Digital Adventures Online
by DigiConjurer
Summary: Looking for an adventure? Go ask Alice...
1. Logging in

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Digital Adventures Online

Session 1

Logging in

Elena dashed across the pavement.

She had shoved the game into the back pocket of her dark blue sundress, occasionally making sure it hadn't fallen out. In retrospect, putting it in her vest was probably a much better idea. At the very least, it slightly complimented her mess of purplish brown hair and amber eyes. A pair of kris hung by her waist, looking like a cross between a pie cutter and a dagger.

All around her, were the tall skyscrapers that towered in the sky. Surrounding those large titans of stone and metal, were the sidewalks and roads required for a city. Among those two areas, large crowds of people gathered. Strangely, the coming of the night sky did little to faze them from actually taking their gazes off of their magical little devices.

"Just my luck." Elena thought, her body beginning to stutter a little bit as data particles seemed to be cast off of her. She always hated this part of the day, preferring to spend it inside. But, sometimes one needs to face their fears and take a step into the wild side of life. In this case, that meant heading out into the world to get her new game before night fell onto the city. A building then came into view, beckoning her in. Elena almost immediately accepted, her dash turning into a whole blown run as she entered.

Inside it was your typical lobby affair, white walls and white tile floors with a bunch of barf green sofas scattered about. The corsair continued to walk on by, heading straight towards the elevator. She pushed the button labelled "three" and rolled her amber eyes.

It had been alright day at school, even with the annoyance of dealing with the teasing. Even then, the hardest thing about it wasn't the work. It was interacting with others, a skill that all the other people at her school seemed to be more skilled at than her. After a few minutes of just standing there and listening to the dull elevator music, the elevator stopped and the corsair exited into the hallway. Amid the light shadows brought forth by the windows, a creature stood at the far end of the area. It looked like a black cat, but the shadows weren't making identifying the creature an easy task.

"Liora, is that you?" Elena whispered, running towards the animal. The creature just sat there, waiting for the girl to come over. Just as she reached the feline, it faded away. "Just my eyes playing tricks on me."

The way back to to the apartment passed in silence and slight disappointment. At the very least, it was the first person in quite a while to actually give a care about her.

Nonetheless, Elena opened the door and headed in. Inside, a sparsely furnished apartment filled with plushies and the usual furniture awaited her. The only thing of note, appeared to be a shield-like crest displaying a sword and a wand. Below it, was a simple title.

Drogaciji Academia

This, was the only connection the corsair held to her old home. In a way, it was all she needed. Elena sat herself down at the desk, pulling the game out as she booted up her laptop. She then slid the disk in, the world beginning to swirl around...

.

Elena opened her eyes.

Gone was her apartment, having been replaced with barren plains blanketed by a reddish orange sky.

Beside her, the deceased body of a high school student laid. While there appeared to be no visible wounds, bits of banana covered the head.

"Just ignore the very unimportant dead body."

Elena's gaze snapped away from the dead body, finding herself looking at an orange dino wearing a pair of golden pants.

"Welcome to Digital Adventures Online." the creature announced, pulling a banana out. "I am Swaggy McSwaggypants. Now, what is your name?"

Elena only stood there, debating whether or not to answer.

"Uh..." she started, taking a deep breath. "Elena Yuliana."

As Elena said that, Swaggy pulled out a clipboard and gave it a quick glance. When the dino finally did return his gaze to the corsair, a look of fear and sadness had formed on his face.

"Go, while she still doesn't know you're here."

Elena then walked away, pushing what little trust she had in the inhabitants of this place to the back of her mind. Her gaze focused on the far end of the area. To the east, appeared to be a small cave jutting out of the from the wall of a canyon.

Swaggy McSwaggypants quickly became just a little speck on the horizon, possibly bothering some other unlucky soul. Not that Elena really cared about that for the minute. At the moment, she just wanted to explore the cave. After that, Elena wasn't too sure. The walk to the cave slowly came into view, indifferent to whoever decided to enter it.

Inside, darkness seemed to emanate from within the quite plain brown stone walls and floor.

"That's it?" Elena thought and took a step. Almost instantly, the floor crumbled into dust, dropping her into a slightly smaller chamber. Unlike the chamber above it, the walls had been painted silver with the floor not getting the same treatment. After, her gaze focused on a solitary brown pillar jutting out from the ground. Sitting on said pillar, was a large sea green egg.

"Release me..."

Elena looked all around, unable to find the source of the voice. Her gaze quickly returned to the egg, which seemed to be the only possible source of the disturbance. She took a step closer to it, placing her left hand on it. The egg was then engulfed with purplish black light, forcing the corsair back a few steps. When the light finally disappeared, a sea green feathered scorpion now sat on pillar.

"Uh..." Elena started, only to stop. "Hi?"

"HI!THANKYOU!WHAT'SYOURNAME?" a stream of words flooded out of the bug's mouth, only for the digimon to jump into her arms. As such, said creature currently found a kris in her face. "Sorry about that, let's try that again."

Elena stared blankly at her new friend, strapping the dagger back onto her dress.

"Elena." the corsair answered, only for the scorpion to crawl up onto her head. "

"Carinamon." the creature explained, jumping off of Elena's head.

 _Scanning..._

 **Carinamon**

 **Rookie, Data**

 **Special Moves: Carina Sting, Poison Claw**

 **.**

 **Elena: So, we're partners now?**

 **Carinamon: Yep!**

 **Elena: Don't I get any kind of fanfare or acknowledgement of this being special?  
**

 **?: Other than that one little thing and Elena being a mistake, no.**

 _Scan Complete._

Elena and Carinamon turned around, suddenly finding themselves back outside the cave. Before a brief second, they could make out a translucent figure, only for it to disappear before either of them could get a good look at it. In the time they were in the cave, the sky had gone from bright blue to a slightly darker purple.

"Who was that?" Carinamon inquired, only to get no response from her human. The scorpion then turned around, finding a large purple and black halsemon with a broken pocketwatch around it's neck. It had a rubbery look to it, with a stream of multicolored feathers sprouting from it's back. Finishing off the look, was a long black tail with a metal trident piece. "What happened to you?"

Laughter then filled the area, it's source unknown.

* * *

Notes:

Now that I know where this is going, this wasn't that hard of a chapter to edit. Even if it meant redoing nearly everything.

.

Next Time: A little meddling couldn't hurt, could it?


	2. Canyon Troubles

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 2

Canyon Troubles

Carinamon stared at the beast.

"What happened to you?" the scorpion whispered and jumped up, only to cling onto the left canyon wall.

 _Scanning..._

 **Arresternostmon**

 **Champion, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Unknown**

 **.**

 **?: Elena is a mistake, just like Carinamon.**

 **Elena: Rawr.**

 **?: Oh shut up. It's not Jestery's fault Rantha and Hilda were complete morons.**

 **Elena: Growl.**

 _Scan complete._

"Who was that?" the rookie digimon accused, only to get a mouthful of thick smoke. A large figure now towered over them, seeming possibly ready to kill the duo. They were dressed some sort of orange and blue jester costume with a matching court jester hat. White costume paint covered all their exposed skin, slightly contrasting with the mess of barely visible pink and purple hair under said hat.

"So, Elena thought she could just sneak in without Jestery noticing?" the person announced, slamming a cream pie into Elena's face. "Oh well. Jestery always wanted to ride a pony!"

The jester then sat herself down on Elena, only to be catapulted up into the air. She then teleported mid-fling, not giving a care at all about Elena or Carinamon's fate.

"So long how are you stuck like this?" the scorpion asked and faced her partner.

"Rawr growl." Elena answered, staring up towards the scorpion.

"I just need to get you some sort of constant light and you'll be fine?"

"Ra."

"Sounds good."

Carinamon jumped down from the canyon wall and pinched onto Elena's tail, grabbing hold somehow. She then took her first cautious steps forward, only for a pair of footsteps to quickly catch-up to the duo.

"Crap." the scorpion whispered and watched as a man and some jackal gangster approached, choosing to carefully drop Elena's tail.

The girl was dressed in a white silky lace blouse with matching stockings and suspenders. Over that, was a two piece black suit with a skirt instead of trousers. Silk fingerless gloves covered her hands and a pair of scarlet pumps covered her feet. Her skin was quite pale, possibly enhanced by make-up. Two cold ruby red eyes stared towards them and her ink black hair was tied into a bun. Finishing off her look, were long red fake nails on each hand.

Standing beside her, was a tall humanoid dressed in a pin-stripe suit with a jackal head. In his hands, was a tommy gun with seemingly unlimited ammo. Unlike the girl, he probably seemed slightly likely to help. Though, one couldn't quite be too sure.

"Get out of the way or else." the girl announced and placed her hands on Elena's back. Of course, the bird creature had none of it, choosing to wrap her tail around the gambler's legs and hoisted her up.

"Rawr growl snarl gro hiss." Elena whispered and gave the captive a quick glance.

"You will help or you will die by daybreak." Carinamon explained and the girl laughed. "The choice is yours."

"I am Alice Zwingli, " the girl answered as she struggled against her bonds. "Chance is my game!"

Elena only rolled her eyes and did her best laugh. Even if it seemed more like a growl than anything else.

"Rawr huff snarl."

"Astamon, do something!" Alice responded, only for her partner to just stand there. "Kick the stupid bird!"

 _Scanning..._

 **Astamon**

 **Ultimate, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Hellfire and Maverick**

 **.**

 **Astamon: Are you sure about this, Miss Su-**

 **Alice: Just do it.**

 **Astamon: As you wish, Miss Alice.**

 _Scan complete._

"I still don't see how this helps us." Astamon mumbled to himself and stepped towards Elena. "I'm sorry, Madame and something or other."

 **Maverick!**

Astamon jumped up into the air and extended his right foot out, heading right for both girls. And yet, it was Elena who shouldered the blow.

He took a deep breath and sighed. After, Carinamon grabbed onto Elena's left leg and continued to pull both humans. For having to pull the large bird, they were actually making quite a bit of progress through the canyon. Thou. Strangely, their new found friends had decided to stay silent instead of actually helping. Even if they had, the scorpion doubted either of them would really be helpful.

"Is that seriously all you're going to do?" Carinamon shouted, only for both Alice and Astamon to ignore her.

"Yep." Alice answered, only to come dangerously close to the ground. "Would you please not do that again?"

"Hiss growl snarl roar."

"Then help me pull her along she asks."

Alice then sighed, attempting to do her best 'I-won't-help' look.

"A beautiful girl like me wouldn't be any use to either of you."

Alice found her entire body brought down mere inches to the ground. All she got from her captor was a growl.

"Are you sure you want to do that?"

Somehow, the gambler managed to reach her guns. She then pulled the trigger, unleashing a large amount of bullets towards Elena. While she did manage to miss on a majority of the shots, the resulting muzzle flash was enough to revert Elena back to her human form.

"Uh... Good thinking?" she whispered and pulled her kris out.

Alice stared at the now human chosen, possibly confused by what she had just witnessed. At the same time, the gambler realized that she had been tricked to an extent. Not that it was what this person intended, but it just seemed that way in her mind.

"Have your fucking way." she whispered, but complied nonetheless.

"Sure thing, Miss..." Astamon started, only for Elena to clear her throat.

"Uh... Elena." Elena quickly answered and the jackal bowed.

"I would be happy to help you, Miss Elena."

Alice only glared, even less happy with the situation she and Astamon currently found themselves in.

"Um... thanks?" the corsair added, staring towards her 'savior'. As they stared at each other, the two both felt a strange sense of deja vu.

The end of the canyon finally came into view. To both duos of chosen, it meant the end of the line of their partnership along with a nice long rest. Not that far away, a large torch burned. Around it, a pair of sleeping bags.

"Finally!" everyone simultaneously announced, dashing over to the 'safety area'. Along with the sleeping bags, a pair of messenger bags had been left by Jestery for them to use.

"Doesn't make up for earlier." Elena thought and unrolled the sleeping bag. Her gaze then focused on Alice, who was doing the same thing. "Partners for now?"

Alice rolled her eyes.

"Partners." she answered with reluctant disdain. While she had been humiliated by the corsair, the gambler could find some use to her. But when the time came, she would have her way...

.

Joey sighed.

For as much as he enjoyed his 'previous' foster home, it was time to move on. Beside him, a purple pig flapped it's ear wings while holding an empty tea cup.

"Will there be tea at least?" his partner inquired, only for the boy to sigh.

"I have no clue." Joey answered, grabbing a ratty yellow backpack off the table. After, he quickly shoved a couple folders inside and zipped it up. "We'll just have to go and find out."

He popped the game case open, inserting the disk into a computer that probably couldn't handle it. After grabbing his staff, he turned the ancient relic on...

Only for the duo to get sucked in.

* * *

Notes:

I would like to thank James95 for 'Alice' and Sonofthetrigod for Joey.

Another total rewrite of the original chapter. And yes, chapter 3 will be moved to Project Digital: Open Beta... eventually.

.

Next Time: Shadows are quite interesting things, aren't they?


	3. Infusion!

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 3

Infusion Time!

Elena opened her eyes and checked her watch. It was 6:00 AM yet, it looked still dark for morning time. It probably wasn't helped at all by the gun Alice currently had pointed to her head.

"New rule. No pointing of guns at people as they're waking up." Elena explained as the gun was inched closer towards her head.

"Why not?" Alice answered and fired her gun off. For having a loaded firearm so close to an actual person, the bullet seemingly missed the target.

"I don't know, maybe because you're out a story if Elena dies at the moment." Carinamon added as Astamon got up. Unlike the other three, his gaze seemed less focused on the group and more on the open area around them.

"Miss Alice, an intruder approaches." The jackal mask gangster explained as a boy and some purple patamon rip-off approached the group. The boy appeared to be dressed in a grey t-shirt decorated with some red lightning bolts that sort of went with a pair of grey and green plaid shorts. A set of green eyes stared towards them, contrasting with the buzz cut done to his blonde hair.

"Hello, random strangers!" The boy greeted as his patamon rip-off gave them a slight nod.

"Uh... Hi?" Elena greeted as the boy just stood there, possibly examining the corsair. After a few minutes of doing that, he returned his gaze

"So, you're guys are the new heroes, huh?" a voice announced as a hail of gunfire rained down on them. "I was expecting something more... interesting. Oh well, it wouldn't have helped anyhow at the moment."

.

He opened his eyes.

All three of them were still by their campfire, mystically still alive somehow.

"Oh, like, hi, nya!" the creature announced as he looked up, finding a large pink creature standing over him."What's your name?"

"Joey." he whispered and made a glance down at himself. Judging from his wounds, he had been shot a couple of times along with getting kicked a couple times. He looked over at his patamon lookalike, who was laying right next to him.

"You still got the data?" the rip-off only nodded, only for their savior to just snatch the notes away. After a second look at the creature, it turned out to be a pink catgirl dressed in a grey robe and cloak.

"Interesting, very interesting, nya." the catgirl then pulled a pen out, writing some stuff down. "Good job."

"If I did a good job, why are you marking it up?" he attempted to get up, only for their savior to grab onto him and pushed him down.

"I'm just giving you additional insider information." As she said that, Elena and Carinamon awoke. "Hopefully, you're not your father's son."

"My father?" Joey whispered as the cat creature thing released her grip on him and walked over Elena. Strangely, it seemed more like it was studying the corsair than anything else.

"Can you please stop?" Elena asked, only for 'pinky' to sigh.

"Maybe." 'pinky' answered and handed the notes back to Joey. She then walked away, disappearing in a cloud of black dust.

"Okay then." Elena remarked as Joey's gaze focused on her. "Sorry about this."

"It's alright." Joey mumbled, looking his notes over. After making sure everything was in order, he walked away from the campfire. It was a close call, for him and his purple patamon. Their research had been compromised, yet appeared to be improved upon.

"I'm guessing my opinion doesn't matter at this point." the digimon remarked as the two headed off. Elena attempted to get up, only for Carinamon to rush over to her. She looked down at her watch. It was a quarter to eight. Judging from the sunset that seemed to engulf the surrounding desert, it was probably pm. As she sat up, a loud bang erupted.

"What should I do?" Joey thought, his gaze going back and forth between his notes and Elena. "I can't endanger my research anymore than I have. But, she might be a big help in the long run."

He pulled a short pole out of his pocket and gave it a slight flick, watching it turn into a staff.

"Let's go, Tsukaimon." the boy decided, unrolling his notes.

"You promised me tea and biscuits!" the digimon accused as the analyzer screen appeared.

 _Scanning..._

 **Tsukaimon**

 **Rookie, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Dark Bubble, Purple Haze  
**

 **.**

 **Joey: You still haven't done anything about it.**

 **Tsukaimon: But you lied!**

 **Joey: That's in the past, my friend.**

 _Scan complete._

Elena only sighed. With the help of Carinamon, she managed to get herself up on two feet.

"What do you need?" Joey remarked as Elena took a deep breath. Joey took a step back, his gaze focused on her arm. "Care to explain?"

After a quick explanation from the hybrid and her scorpion, Joey handed the papers over. While he still didn't understand what the fuck was even going on, he willing to help the group out.

"Here we go." Carinamon shouted and pulled one of the sheets out. Unlike the other sheets, which were mostly text, this one was a diagram of some sort of magical. "This is what we need to get our edge!"

For the moment, the three humans ignored the digimon. Mostly since they were attempting the art of not dying via gunshot wound.

"Uh... Show yourself!" Elena announced as an arrow and some weird cyanish white orbs headed towards them. "I guess that answers my question."

Carinamon placed the paper on the ground, beginning to draw some sort of circle in the sand. Arrows and bullets began to rain down upon them, getting extremely close to their vital parts.

"There we go." the digimon explained, making a quick glance behind her. For some reason, Alice and Astamon were heading towards them. "What do you want now?"

"Well, that worked." Alice remarked as she headed towards them. As they did that, Astamon shot at their attacker. "So, what's the plan?"

"We used this magical circle I created to do something magical." Carinamon explained as Alice gave the circle a quick glance. After doing that, Joey's gaze focused upon her.

"Who the heck are you?" Joey remarked as the trio took a step towards the circle.

"Alice Zwingli, professional gambler." Alice whispered as she cracked a cocky smile.

"Joey Elliot, amateur scientist."

The three then took a small step forward, slamming their feet onto the circle.

 **Elena infusion digivolve too...** **Arresternostmon** **!**

 **Alice infusion digivolve too... NekoGamblermon!**

 **Joey infusion digivolve too... ShadowAngemon!**

 _Scanning..._

 **Arresternostmon**

 **Infusion, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Gale Wing, Memory Spirits**

 **.**

 **Elena: Hey Jestery!**

 **Jestery: Jestery tired...**

 **Elena: Mistake this!**

 **Jestery: Elena try too hard, still mistake.**

 **Elena: Whatever, Jess.**

 **Jestery: Don't even try.**

 _Scanning..._

 **NekoGamblermon**

 **Infusion, Data**

 **Special Moves: Lucky Shot, Card of Chance**

 **.**

 **Jestery: Yay! Kitty's back!**

 **Alice: Seeriooussly?**

 **Jestery: Alice not interrupt Jestery's fantasy.**

 **Astamon: You do look really cute, Miss Alice.**

 **Alice: Just shut up, Astamon.**

 _Scanning..._

 **ShadowAngemon**

 **Infusion, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Shadow Knuckle, Shadow Blaze**

 **.**

 **Joey: Despair, what's the heck is that?**

 **?: Despair, is a type of digimon usually associated with emotions, not just despair.**

 **Joey: you remind me of someone...**

 **?: It's the hat, isn't it? But no matter, I believe you should consider it to meet my partner in crime and I.**

 **Joey: Then who are you people then?**

 **TripleQuestionmarks: Evil Takeru "TK" Takaishi and Hikari Yagami at your service...**

 _Scan Complete._

* * *

Notes:

Rewrite-wise, this wasn't that bad. Just the removal of the scene involving Swaggy and a slight moveset change for Elena.

.

Next Time: The last fight of Evil TK for now...


	4. Legacy

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 4

Legacy

Elena sighed.

She didn't really get who these two people were trying to be. Maybe they were just pretending to be those characters. Not that it really mattered to her at all. They were their current opponents and they would need to battle them. At least now, she had proper control in this form.

Her gaze then focused upon Alice.

In the place of the gambler, a white catgirl dressed in a black trenchcoat now stood. Under said trenchcoat, was a plain t-shirt and a matching pair of pants. A mask that looked like her usual face hung on the back of her head. It was a pretty spotless replica, the only flaws within it being the slightly exaggerated visuals and a small crack just below the mouth portion. Her guns hung by her thighs, with a deck of cards hanging beside the left pistol.

Alice took a deep breath. While it wasn't the preferred form she would have chosen for herself, it would work for the time being. She also wouldn't mind a certain third-person speaking jester releasing her 'loving' grip off of her.

"Don't you just feel the love?" Jestery announced as Alice went for her gun. Already, the benevolent god was quickly getting upon her nerves. Not that she could really kill her, having already tried that the day before with no success.

"Get off." Alice answered and Jestery ended her hug. Alice probably needed a second hug, judging from her still grumpy mood. So, Jestery hugged her again and Alice responded with her usual tactic: pointing a gun in the aggressor's face. This probably won't at all backfire on her in the near future, whatsoever.

"What are you afraid of, Alice?" Evil TK responded, only to have Alice swing both of her guns towards his face. "We're all friends around here."

"Your name is Evil TK. I say it's quite the contrary of that." the gambler whispered, only to get a mumble from her opponent. "Hey! Speak up!"

While those two bickered, Joey looked himself over. Instead of the typical overdressed angel one would have expect for his name, the boy was still dressed in his original outfit. However, a cloud of darkness had now engulfed his body, giving the appearance of the overdressed angel.

"Come on, Alice and TK! Be friends!" Jestery announced as she casually played on a 3DS for some reason.

"Uh... go away." Elena answered as she looked up. Floating above them, was a weird cross between SkullGreymon and a Myotismon. How that would exactly work is beyond me. "We have a fight at the moment."

"Jestery is still cuddling kitty at the moment." Jestery announced and Elena held her left claw to her forehead. "Kitty is currently way too moody for her own well-being."

Eventually, Jestery did finally let go of Alice and mumbled something about it counting as two hugs at once for some reason.

"Took you people long enough." Hikari announced, aiming her sniper rifle towards Elena. "I've been lusting for some action for quite a while now."

"Lusting?" Evil TK answered, turning to look at his partner. "I realize we both haven't had much in the way of action, but that seems like a weird word to describe it."

"We're finally ready!" Joey announced, waiting for their two opponents to answer.

"Oh, yes." digimon #1 answered, clearing his throat. "I'm MaloMyotismon."

 _Scanning..._

 **MaloMyotismon**

 **Super Ultimate, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Mental Illusion, Screaming Darkness, Crimson Mist**

 **.**

 **MaloMyotismon: You might know me from classics such as Digimon Adventure 02 and that one episode of Digimon Fusion.**

 **The author: You mean Digimon Xros Wars.**

 **MaloMyotismon: It's the same thing.  
**

 **The author: They technically aren't.**

 **MaloMyotismon: What's the difference?**

 **The author: Too many to list off right now. I'm sort of afraid to watch the dub, if it ever gets finished.**

 _Scan Complete._

"Okay then." Alice responded, her gaze focusing on a second digimon.

It's appearance was similar to that of an angewomon, but had a yellow fox tail and matching fox ears. A renamon gauntlet covered the normally gloved hand and she wasn't wearing her helmet, revealing the usual long blonde hair most angewomon have. The weird gunk of plaster normally covering her foot had been replaced with a yellow fox foot. Finally, the normally angelic white dress seemed to have a faded yellow tint to it.

The digimon then launched a mixed barrage of arrows and fireballs towards them, seemingly waiting for them to dodge and/or counter-attack.

 **Shadow Blaze!**

Part of the black cloud condensed around Joey's hand, only for a fireball to shoot out.

 **Gale Wing!**

Two c-shaped projectiles shot out of Elena's wings, almost immediately joining with the fireball.

 **Lucky Shot!**

Alice shot her left gun off, only to get nothing but smoke. As such, the gambler repeated said action and managed to fire her gun off. A few seconds later, all three attacks collided into one super attack that barely did any damage to either of their opponent's digimon.

"Why couldn't it just be tea and crumpets?!" Tsukaimon added as Carinamon pinched his left wing.

"Is that all you ever talk about?" The feathered scorpion accused and the purple winged pig shook his head.

"Some chips would be nice. Maybe some bangers and mash instead." Carinamon stared into the pig's face, attempting to decipher the digimon's latest statement. It was probably better than the food her 'creator' fed her each day. She was pretty certain it was mostly just rat poison and some other nasty things, possibly the venom of her turtle cellmate. But, that was in the past.

The scorpion's gaze then focused on Alice, who was cycling her gun barrel in an attempt to improve her accuracy. There was probably only one bullet in the six-round barrel, but that didn't stop the catgirl. It was at that moment, MaloMyotismon finally decided to join the battle.

 **Crimson Mist!**

A red mist headed towards them, only for Alice to pull her deck of cards out.

 **Card of Chance!**

She flipped the top card off, revealing the king of diamonds. Instead of the usual king on the card, there was the picture of a figure dressed in a rainbow-striped cloak.

"What the heck?" Both Elena and Joey shouted as Alice fell to the ground.

"Oh fuck, fuck, fuck." TK added as Hikari glanced towards him. Their gazes focused on Alice, who was strangely convulsing on the ground. She immediately returned to her human form, only for a loud bone-cracking pop to come forth from the German girl. Her body was engulfed with white light as everyone just stood there. When the light disappeared, a catgirl with purple fur and her mask from before. But, the mask now appeared to be covered entirely with cracks and ready to shatter. Catgirl was probably the wrong word to describe her now. Actually, the closest thing to describing her was possibly a large cat behemoth thing.

"Crud." TK responded and gave MaloMyotismon a slight nod. The ultimate responded with another nod and ran towards our heroes.

 **Mental Illusion!**

'Alice' froze, returning to a human-like state for the moment.

Elena then reverted back, pulling her cell phone out.

"Uh... what are you doing?" Joey accused and watched Elena talk into the device.

"Uh... calling a friend of mine." Elena explained as Joey's gaze turned towards TK.

"How did you do that, Mr. Takaishi?" The scientist asked and reverted back to his human state.

TK only giggled, cracking a sly smile.

"You're a digimon fan, aren't you?" TK answered, taking his fisherman's cap off. "Also, just call me TK."

"Yes, Mr TK." Joey answered as Tsukaimon flew over to his master while MaloMyotismon reverted back to Patamon. "A very big fan."

"It's not what you expected, is it?"

Joey only nodded as Hikari gave TK a cautionary glance.

"I expected something more a whole lot more peaceful." Hikari only sighed, whispering something into TK's ear. "But, why?"

"The digital world is like a person. Every person has a different idea what they want it to be. It changes to reflect what that person wants."

Joey stared blankly, confused by what the boy was even talking about.

"If that was the case, why is this place so messed up?"

TK only sighed, his smile disappearing.

"If only it were that simple." TK took a deep breath, taking a quick glance behind him. He began to shake, pulling his own gun out. "It is coming for us, taking your friends and go!"

The former prince then placed something in the Joey's hands as Hikari made a confused glance towards him.

"What are you talking about?"

"All you need to know is this. The jester is not your enemy. Neither are the Royal Digi and the Infectors. No, there's a much greater threat to worry about." As he said that, a bus rolled up. "But, no matter what, don't let that change the path you choose to take."

A bus then landed right beside TK and Hikari, calling for them to come towards it.

Joey and Tsukaimon then ran towards the bus. Astamon followed right behind, pulling a stunned Alice behind him. Elena and Carinamon brought up the rear, making sure nothing had decided to follow them.

Inside, the interior looked to be that of a school bus, probably used for the obvious reason. An old man, probably in his thousands, sat in the front seat. He was dressed simply, just a white toga and some sandals. For some reason, his water bottle was shaking rapidly, possibly ready to explode on them.

"Hi Bob." Elena greeted as she and Carinamon took a seat behind the driver.

"Good to see you, Elena." Bob answered as Tsukaimon pulled Alice over to a seat in the middle area. "Where to?"

"Drogaciji Academy." Elena explained and Bob nodded. The bus headed off, as the 'former rulers' of the digital world watched on.

At the moment, the duo and their digimon were doing battle with two heavily armored angels. However, it seemed the two angels had the upper hand on them. They always did in these sorts of battles. That was how it was supposed to be in this world. Good wins, evil loses. Any slight change to this "balance", would be considered wrong and must be set 'right'. Or maybe it was just case of very bad luck.

TK gritted his teeth, taking a deep breath. This was the end for him, but not for all of them. They tiptoed towards a large dead tree, taking shelter inside.

"Hikari, go." He whispered, only for her and kitsune angewomon thing to just stand there.

"If you're going to die, let's do this together." She whispered, attempting to make TK see her way. "I can't just let you have the fun."

"No." TK sighed, handing his partner in crime something. "Now is your chance to be the hero. Go!"

Hikari ran out of the tree, heading north. Her partner followed behind, still nameless. As those two did that, TK and Patamon headed back to their opponents. TK cracked a smile, not even getting a response from either digimon.

"I guess the cat was right. We're all butterflies in a never-ending cycle. But, eventually we'll have to deal with the repercussions of past actions." He pointed his gun towards the digimon to his left and fired. The bullet slammed into the creature's helmet, only for a lance to stab right through his heart. The other digimon copied the actions of the first, slamming his spear into Patamon.

With the deed now done, the two teleported away.

.

Polly Gostelow opens her eyes.

Currently, she finds herself in her ordinary room. It consisted of four white walls and a matching carpet. Martial art posters were scattered about the walls, making the lone poster of a riceball kitty and a green jellybean frog seem out of place yet meaningful. Other than that, a desk sat under a window with an overturned bookcase with a bunch of fist-shaped bloodstains upon it. She couldn't quite remember why she had done it or the purpose of it, but something about it seemed familiar. The only other piece of furniture appeared to be a plain set of drawers.

"Why hello there."

Our current 'protagonist' then makes a quick glance towards the left side of her bed. Currently, a demonic satyr thing was standing by said bed with something on his mind.

"I have the offer of the lifetime for you." the monster explained. "Are you willing to hear me out on this?"

"Can't it just wait? I'm not even dressed yet." Polly whispered and made a quick glance away from the creature.

The creature sighed, only to shake his head.

"In that case, I'll just cut right to the chase. Want to become a harem girl?"

"No thanks." Polly whispered and kicked the covers away, grabbing hold of this mystery monster. What followed, was the monster getting flung out her window. All without hitting the desk.

"Telemarketers these days." she whispered and closed her eyes. "Why does he seem so familiar..."

* * *

Notes:

Just some minor tweaks to the chapter.

.

Next Time: Truly a tempting offer, is it not?


	5. Polly's Day

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 5

Polly's Day

The dawn's bright glow quickly approached upon the home of the Gostelow family.

For our current protagonist, she had just finished dealing with one of those extremely annoying telemarketers. Strangely, this one had decided invasion of privacy was a totally legitimate thing to do someone just awoken from their slumber.

Nonetheless, she got up and dressed herself in her usual outfit. Which consisted of a black vest top and a loose cargo pants, held up by a black belt. To go with her look, were a pair of fingerless gloves and a pair of trainer shoes. At the very least, it went well with her dazzling blue eyes and her black pixie cut.

"Hello, whore. Shall we try this again?"

She then turned around, finding the figure from before sitting at her desk. He had the chest of a human, the lower half of a goat and the upper chest of a dragon. A unicorn horn was embedded in his white hair, just above the human right half of his face. The other half, appeared to be all dragon. A single short straight horn hung on both sides of head. White shoulder pads held by red thread covered his knees. Strangely, her gaze seemed most focused on the white voids that one could call 'eyes'.

"Why are you back here again?!" she screamed and took a step toward towards her opponent.

"Because I need your help, you useless slut."

Polly slammed her fist into the beast's throat and knocked it into the desk. The demonic satyr didn't even flinch and just walked back over to his original position.

 **Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!  
**

A beam of lava then shot out of the hands of the creature, only for the monk to duck and fling him into the wall.

"You can call me Aegiochusmon." The creature announced, only for Polly to grab hold. "I am your Harem Mage."

Before he could explain himself, Polly flung the digimon out her window for a second time.

"Good riddance." Polly thought and made her way towards the door.

 **Pylóna tou Ádi (Pillar of Hades)!**

A large ornate pillar sprouted up from the earth, only for Aegiochusmon to casually step through the now broken window frame.

"My, my, my. What have they done to you." the harem mage announced, only to grab hold of Polly.

"Let go of me, you big creep!" Polly shouted as she attempted to break free from her captor's grip.

"Why should I? I've gone through all of this trouble of tracking you down and I can't just let you get away that easily."

Aegiochusmon then laughed, only for the monk's door to open up and reveal Polly's mom.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the women announced and Aegiochusmon let go of Polly and escaped through the way he came in.

"Mom?" Polly inquired, only for Mom to pull her out of the room. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want you to be anywhere near him!" Polly's Mom announced and walked downstairs."He's trouble and nothing else."

The monk only stood there, processing what had just happened. As much as she wanted to push this all to the back of her mind, something about the intruder stuck with her. Maybe it was the sense of deja vu that the two had somehow met before. Or it could be that sneaking feeling of her destiny suddenly changing.

But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't put her finger on the answer. Reluctantly, the monk made her way down the stairs and headed outside.

Outside, Aegiochusmon had sat himself down on a nice stone bench.

"So, you finally decided to take me up on my offer, bimbo?" Aegiochusmon greeted, only for Polly to throw him into a dumpster. "No matter."

He pulled a gold pocketwatch out and gave it a quick glance. Polly was already late to begin with, making her resistance just another pain for the harem mage to deal with at the moment.

"Now, now. You need to stop this, my Akira."

Polly walked up to 'her partner' and punched him in the face. Aegiochusmon only laughed as a bright flash of light blinded her vision. Fractured images flashed by, showing bits and pieces of events that seemed familiar yet so distant.

"Do you get it now, bimbo?"

Polly only stared at the harem mage.

"This is something kind of prank, right? Just some elaborate joke my friends thought would be funny to pull on m-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Aegiochusmon slapped her.

"A joke?" he shouted, balling both of his hands up. "Do you think I went through all of this trouble for just one little measly practical joke?!"

The harem mage then grabbed hold of her and planted a kiss on her cheek.

Energy surged into the monk, only for Aegiochusmon to release his grip off of her. But instead of falling to the ground, she just floated there as a white card shot out of her body and into the free hands of her 'master'. Like a Polaroid almost, a picture of Polly then formed on the card. Afterwards, Polly fell to the ground but quickly got back up.

"What did you just do to me?!" Polly shouted and charged towards Aegiochusmon once more, only for him to sidestep out of the way.

"I made a pactio with you." Aegiochusmon answered, only for Polly to throw him into a wall. "That way, we can restore what they took from you."

Polly gave him a quick glance, only to walk away. She had enough of the 'crap' the harem mage had decided to shove down her throat.

"Just go away, will you?"

Aegiochusmon only sighed and cautiously followed behind.

Currently, the city was swarming with people in line to get a copy of Digital Adventures Online from their local game stores.

One would have expected to see less of a crowd, mostly due to the recent rumors of the disappearance of the beta testers. But, they all probably thought that was just some rumor or story cocked up by marketing and/or the press to hype the game. That, or they were looking for Mage Girls: VS Ultra. Not that either of them would have really known, considering the two didn't really care for this sort of thing.

"Can you please stop following me?"

Aegiochusmon only laughed.

"Why would I want to do that?" he explained, only for Polly to stare at him. "I now have you."

He was then slapped for that remark.

"No." Polly answered and continued on her way. "Just leave me alone!"

Aegiochusmon didn't answer, giving his pocketwatch another quick glance.

After that annoyance, the monk continued on her way. Occasionally, the monk would make a quick glance behind her, making sure she wasn't being followed.

Polly passed through an alley, making a quick stop for some reason. Painted on the left wall, was a mural of a black cat with some cyan text painted under it.

Life is like chasing a black cat. At first, the cat will just outrun you. But as you make friends and grow along your journey, you will eventually catch up with it.

"Interesting, isn't it? You can't find this at all in either Mahora or the Digital World."

Polly turned around, finding Aegiochusmon standing before her once again.

"Now what?" Polly shouted and Aegiochusmon laughed.

"We need to get going." Aegiochusmon answered and Polly stared blankly at him. The harem mage immediately took advantage of her, delivering a kiss on the cheek. "Especially if we want to get away without her realizing."

Polly stared at Aegiochusmon, only for kunai to suddenly rain down.

"Hey!

Aegiochusmon leaned in for a kiss, muttering three little words under his breath. Almost on cue, the kunai rain had stopped.

"Sis mea pars!"

 **Polly infusion digivolve too... Aquiosmon!**

Power then rippled through her body, forcing her onto the floor. Her skin shattered, light blue goop taking the place of it. Her legs had fused together, taking the appearance of a mermaid tail. Her clothes had disappeared, getting replaced with two seashells over her breasts. What was left of her hair, was now just slime. With her transformation now complete, Aegiochusmon made a quick glance down at her card and put it in his 'pocket'.

 _Scanning..._

 **Aquiosmon**

 **Infusion/Champion, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Aquaport, Watery Grave Punch, Seaside Throw  
**

 **.**

 **Aegiochusmon: Call me Fate. Fate Averruncus.**

 **Polly: I'll pass, thank you very much.**

 **Aegiochusmon: Suit yourself then.**

 _Scan complete._

"What just happened to me?!" Polly shouted, only for Aegiochusmon to sigh.

"Help me and I'll tell you, bitch." Aegiochusmon responded and Polly slapped him with her tail.

"Hello, Polly."

Polly then turned around, finding some sort of plant anthro thing standing before the duo. It was some green-skinned girl, dressed in a pink flower-petal dress. A pair of bark boots covered her feet and a small pink flower sat in her green vine-like hair. Two dark green eyes stared towards with a creepy smile accompanying it.

"It's me, Lydia!" the anthro announced, only for Aegiochusmon to smile. As much as he hadn't planned for this, this would work nicely in his plan.

Polly rubbed her eyes, possibly to make sure what she was seeing was reality and not just some weird dream induced by Aegiochusmon.

"What happened to you?" The slime inquired and 'Lydia' laughed.

"I've been improved by the infection." Polly only gave her friend a confused glance. "Would you like to join me?"

"Not really." Polly immediately slid back over to her harem mage, just about ready to slap him. "What have you done to her?!"

"I am not at fault to this bimbo's predicament." Aegiochusmon added and took a deep breath. "For now, you're going to have to take her on."

Polly only groaned.

 **Aqua Torrent!**

A torrent of water engulfed the area, yet seemed contained to just the alley. Not that any of the crowds would have really noticed it.

 **Aquaport!**

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly then dove into the water, only reappearing to punch her opponent into the air.

 **Seaside Throw!**

The monk then jumped into the air, grabbing hold of Lydia and threw her into the left wall of the alley.

"What's wrong, stupid?" Aegiochusmon asked and Polly sighed.

"Now are you going to explain what's going on?" Polly answered, only for Aegiochusmon to think it over for a couple of seconds.

"Nope!"

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly then slammed her fist towards her partner, only for him to grab hold of it and fling her into the opposite wall with Lydia.

"For now, let's just let sleeping dogs lie." Aegiochusmon answered and grabbed hold of her once more as a flash came over them.

 **Aquaport!**

The two were then pulled into the water, only to be ejected out of a water bottle.

"Where are we?"

Currently, the duo found themselves on the bus from the previous chapter, with everyone's gazes focusing in on them.

"Uh... Welcome to the group?" someone finally answered, motioning for them to take a seat. After doing that, Drogaciji Academy quickly came into view.

Only for a 'tournament' to occur, with little consequence to the grand scheme of things. Well... Kind of.

It is here, at the very end we meet our final hero...

* * *

Notes:

Overall, this wasn't that bad of a chapter to rewrite.

Even then, it was mostly just improving the character interactions between Polly and Aegiochusmon.

On an interesting note, one of the digtalverse's greatest secrets has remained hidden. Maybe you will find it?

.

Next Time: Take a ride in this taxi cab...


	6. Nostalgic Memories

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 6

Nostalgic Memories

It was funny.

Just mere hours ago, the various characters of this multiverse had been forced to fight to the 'death' within the ruins of Heck. But thanks to the sacrifice of an unknown group of individuals, the situation was easily averted and peace was returned to the tropical paradise for the temporary and eternally dead. Soon, work would begin to restore the world to its former glory.

But for Aaron Larson, it meant something else entirely.

He had dressed simply that day, deciding upon a grey t-shirt and black track pants with a pair of brown loafers. Not that you could really tell, judging from the light brown trenchcoat that covered his body. Finishing off his look was a pair of weathered cyan eyes and a short mess of blondish brown hair that sort of went with slight stubble on his chin. One would possibly think that this person was in their early to mid teens. No, our final protagonist looked to be in his mid to late twenties, somehow not broken by this brutal world.

"I guess all good things have to come to an end eventually." Aaron thought as he waved goodbye to one of the many departing trains. One by one, their leads were heading off across the digitalverse with no way to even contact them. But that was a problem with a future solution. For now, he and his partner had a bigger problem. "Are you alright, Cutemon?"

The pink rabbit beside him nodded as they stared out towards the endless void. The last of the trains were now becoming just small white blips within the 'void', a mocking tone to both of them. If he could, he would eternally chase after each one, asking the patrons what they knew. Maybe then, he would understand. Even if he could reach out to them, would they even listen? Or even care to answer his question without any question. It was these uncertainties that made his job so difficult.

"What's wrong?" Cutemon inquired as he cautiously stared back at his human. Currently, Aaron was examining a ratty black notebook that looked just about ready to fall apart.

"Nothing." Aaron whispered and made a quick glance at his partner. "I was just thinking about her."

He took a deep breath and shoved the notebook into his faded yellow backpack. It had been at 'tens of thousands of years' since he had last seen her and everyone else, making this brief interlude a welcome sight. It was almost a victory, if they had been able to stay together. Yet, duty called.

"Ooh." Cutemon added and got up onto his master's shoulder as the two made their way along the train platform. While most of the area looked empty, they couldn't possibly be the only ones who still needed to leave Heck for parts unknown.

"Need a lift?" a voice announced and Aaron turned around, finding a troll in a police uniform standing before them. Strangely, a large comb-shaped mustache sat below his nose, even through trolls can't really grow moustaches.

"Yes, we actually are." Aaron answered and the troll smiled. "We need to get to Drogaciji Academy, think you can get us there?"

The troll did a double take and smiled.

"That's the same place I'm going!" he announced, only to clear his throat. "Officer EMT, at your service."

"Aaron Larson." Aaron explained and shook EMT's hand. "Master detective."

"Cutemon." Cutemon added and reluctantly shook the troll's other hand. While he did seem quite nice, one couldn't be too sure. With the introductions now over, the trio made their way over to a large armored vehicle and entered.

Compared to the cold and uninviting exterior, the interior was quite the opposite. A bunch of nice leather seats lined the sides, actually being more comfortable than what you would find in most cars. A pair of fuzzy dice hung in front of the windscreen, which went quite well with the beaded curtain separating the living quarters from the driving area.

Officer EMT then sat down in the front passenger seat as Aaron and Cutemon sat down behind him. The troll then revved the engine up and the armored vehicle drove off the edge of Heck...

Only to begin falling to their uncertain doom. Which, was probably not the greatest one would want to face right away. Strangely, Officer EMT was totally fine with all of this and was casually humming some tune from some magical girl anime, possibly Negima?! or DokiDoki Precure. As he did that, Aaron and Cutemon were screaming for their lives.

"Give me a second." EMT shouted as he got up from his seat, pulling a rocket launcher out. While that happened, Aaron also got up and pulled a vial of purple stuff out.

"Need some help?" Aaron inquired and approached their captain. If he really wanted too, he could just do the job himself. Yet, something about the troll seemed to make him want to work together. Though, this probably be the only chance he would actually get.

"I guess."

The two made their way towards the door of the vehicle and opened it up. All around them, the gaping jaw of the void opened up, ready to pull them in and never let them go. Aaron stepped into the door frame first and smashed the vial into it.

A pair of purple hands then shot out, faintly grabbing hold of both the detective and the troll. The duo then took their first steps out, cautiously making a glance behind them as they made the next set of them. With that done, the duo made their way to the back of the vehicle as the void got closer and closer.

Nonetheless, the two got to work on the back. While neither knew what was wrong with the vehicle, they would just have to figure it out.

"Maybe we just need to jump-start the motor?" Aaron suggested and Officer EMT sighed, shooting a missile into the delicate piece of automotive technology. "Are you crazy?!"

"Yes, you're quite accurate in that observation." EMT answered as a loud roar emanated from the engine. "It has quite the benefits to make up for it, though."

The two then laughed and made their way back to the door, cautiously making sure they didn't fall off and into the abyss below.

"So off to Drogaciji Academy then?" Aaron suggested and EMT nodded as they reentered the vehicle. The two then sat themselves down into their respective seats as the vehicle headed off, saying one final goodbye to the void below them. They soared up into the air, dimensional space engulfing them in it's massive grip. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." EMT answered, turning to look at the detective. "It's about the mustache, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Cutemon reluctantly added. Officer EMT then laughed and cracked a smile.

"It was a gift from my father before I headed into service. Aaron watched as EMT reminisced. In a way, he pitied the troll. "When you're gone nearly every day of the year with very few holidays, having some part of family helps with the homesickness. So, what's your story?"

Aaron took a deep breath and pulled his notebook out.

"I lost all of my friends an eternity ago." he whispered as Cutemon walked over. "They had been kidnapped by a mysterious man after accepting some of his candy. That was also the day, I met Cutemon."

Officer EMT turned away from his cockpit, placing his left hand on Aaron's shoulder.

"I can understand."

"Do tell."

Officer EMT took a deep breath and sighed.

"My first assignment was to follow a pair of individuals, see where their adventure took them. One escaped, the other got stuck in a endless loop."

"That's a shame." Cutemon whispered and gave the troll police officer a cautious glare. "But can we talk about something else."

"Cutemon..."

The rabbit didn't answer, choosing instead to just turn away.

"Sorry about that." Aaron whispered and took a deep breath. "If there is anything that you need from us, just ask."

"Sounds good." EMT answered and returned his attention to the cockpit.

The rest of the 'flight' quickly passed, with their paths parting upon arrival at Drogaciji Academy. For Officer EMT, it meant driving right through the front door.

For Aaron, it meant waiting for a small yellow bus to arrive. There he would possibly find that man. Maybe then, he could settle this...

* * *

Notes:

With that, our main human characters have appeared. I wonder how they will interact with each other.

Next Time: Welcome to Drogaciji Academy! Be careful of the madhouse.


	7. Dark Ocean Vu

Session 8

Dark Ocean Vu

The outside of Drogaciji Academy wasn't really that special. It was a large stone building with a brick plaza leading out of it. Plants of all sorts lined the edge, not that the students ever cared about them. Even then, the students rarely went outside the academy. When they did, it was waiting at the bus stop for Bob to pick them up and take them off to parts unknown.

"So this it, huh?" Astamon remarked, pulling Alice behind him. "I was expecting something more... random, Miss Elena."

Elena cautiously laughed and turned to face the gangster.

"Are you sure?" Elena answered and headed towards the exit of the vehicle. "It's just an exterior. What matters, is the interior and the occupants of said interior."

Everyone else followed right behind, only to be met by Aaron and Cutemon outside.

"Hi!" Aaron greeted and gave the people a slight bow, with his partner following suit a couple seconds later. "I'm guessing we're a little bit late to this gravy train."

Elena made a quick glance over at the detective. He looked exactly the same as he did in the previous chapter, with the only difference being the slight soot from the trip here. Aaron seemed like a nice guy in her book, but she wasn't quite sure if her teammates would hold such an easy-going opinion on the matter as she did.

With the exception of Aegiochusmon, everyone seemed quite indifferent on the matter. At the very least, it would mean one more person to help them pull Alice.

"No, he can not be part of our group." the harem mage announced and began charging some sort of magic spell.

"Why not?" Elena inquired as Aaron searched through his pockets, ready to pull something out.

"The boy is more trouble than he's worth, harpy slut." Aegiochusmon answered as a stream of lava shot out of his hands. Everyone then ducked, watching as the burning liquid flew through the air and set a nearby rose bush aflame.

"I could say the same thing about you." Aaron answered and walked over to the rose bush, dumping some regular old water on it. "At the very least, I actually try to fix my mistakes."

Aegiochusmon only growled and rolled his eyes towards the detective. Polly then made a quick glance towards her partner, confused by what just happened. But for now, it was probably not best to push the situation any further than it was at the moment.

"What am I thinking?" the monk thought and took a deep breath, a sharp pain echoing through her body for a brief second. She looked all around her body to discover the source of it, to no avail. "He's just a pervy asshole who's just making things up at this point."

"Polly!"

Polly turned around, finding the rest of the group standing at the now destroyed front door. She made her way over to them, unsure of what they really saw there. It quite clearly was the remnants of a large door, smashed into a million pieces by a large vehicle. Why somebody would just stand and admire it, just seemed silly to her.

"So can we go inside?" Polly whispered as she made her way over to Elena.

"Uh... no." Elena answered and took a deep breath. "There's still technically a door there."

Polly stared towards the girl, confused by what Elena was even talking about. She placed a hand upon the empty space, only to find it to be completely solid.

"What the heck?" Polly shouted and slammed her fist towards the barrier. On contact with it, her fist was knocked back along with the rest of her body. "Ow."

"What did you expect, bitch?" Aegiochusmon added and chuckled in the face of his partner's stupidity. "Just because it doesn't look solid, doesn't mean there isn't anything solid there."

Polly only growled and walked away, muttering something under her breath in the process. While the monk still hadn't solved the mystery of the solid barrier thing, she could swallow her pride for the moment.

"In all seriousness, how do we get in?"

Everyone then turned towards Elena, who took a deep breath.

"We go through the side entrance." Elena answered and motioned for them to follow. The corsair then snaked around to the side of the building, pointing at a simple door within the towering white stone brick walls that made of Drogaciji Academy's exterior.

"That's it?" Carinamon added and made her way towards the door. "Why didn't you tell to come here in the first place?"

"Uh..."

Elena took a deep breath and made a quick glance down at the ground. She didn't really have a reason for dragging everyone over to look at the door. Well, other than to see if the main door still technically functioned. Which meant they couldn't barge in like they owned the place and demand treatment for Alice. Even then, that would be wrong and highly disruptive to the bustling learning environment.

"I don't really have an answer, to tell you the truth." she answered, watching as Astamon pulled Alice over to the rest of the group. "I take that back. If one goes through the front door, you get 'trapped' in there."

"Trapped?" Aaron inquired and pulled his notebook out. "Care to elaborate?"

Elena took another deep breath. While she really shouldn't giving any secrets away, these were her friends after all.

"Uh... Basically, the door is used as a recruitment trap." she finally whispered as Aaron scribbled it down, shoving his notebook back into his backpack. "As such, we need to use the back door."

"Sounds good, Miss Elena." Astamon answered and pulled Alice towards the middle of the group. "I'll leave the dragging of the body to you ruffians."

"Thanks." Elena added and grabbed hold of Alice, pulling her towards the door. "Also, the whatever you guys are going to have to stay here."

The digimon focused their gazes upon her.

"Whatever you guys are?" Tsukaimon shouted. "That's not our species name at all!"

"Yeah!" Carinamon added as she totally ignored her master. "We are digimon, stupid!"

Elena didn't even answer and decided to just open the door, pulling herself and Alice inside. The rest of the group watched on, unsure of how to react to this.

"I don't care if we're called 'Pokemon' or 'Appmon', that was straight up rude." Aegiochusmon whispered, possibly getting ready to sent a spell out. "As such, I believe it is best to think about our act-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Carinamon and Tsukaimon 'apologized'. Even if it would be quite meaningless. Since you know, the offended person isn't there to even hear it! But I digress.

"Let's go." Aaron whispered and headed towards the door. Polly and Joey followed right behind, entering the insane halls of Drogaciji Academy...

* * *

Notes:

This took far too long to edit. Mostly since I kept putting this on the back burner.

Yeah, the title is Project Digital reference.

If you enjoyed, please review. It really does help.

.

Next Time: Welcome to Drogaciji Academy. Please enjoy your stay.


	8. Lost in Wonderland

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 9

Lost in Wonderland

They opened their eyes.

Gone was the lush and vibrant exterior of the entrance. In it's place, was a rectangular room that looked elongated at one end. The light of the room hung darkly in mid-air, ignoring all rules of gravity and common sense. Above them, a couple chairs and a couch sat like everything was perfectly normal in this place. The only thing that looked normal, appeared to be a bulletin board. Which, was covered in a variety of papers displaying alien languages.

After getting adjusted to the sudden change of scenery, the group did a quick headcount. With the added member, the still unnamed group now numbered five. However, they were only able to account for three of the infused chosen.

The first was an older man, possibly in his 30's. In actuality, he had been there since the "beginning" of this entire mess, if you even call it that. As such, investigating this place and bringing closure were his top priority. Even if it probably wouldn't work out that way.

The second was a young scientist, interested in what truly inhabited the dark. In a way, stuff like this just seemed normal to him.

And the third was a brawler, totally confused by their current situation. Which was odd, considering who her master was. The group made a quick glance down at themselves, finding two of the three in their other forms.

 **Shadow Flare!**

Joey fired the projectile out and watched it rebound towards them. They then ducked, only for the fireball to explode.

After making sure no one had been seriously hurt, the trio headed through the doorway and found themselves in a hallway. Two marble walls stood close, complimented by some sort of silver floor.

"Never mind." Polly added, heading towards the door. The rest of the group reluctantly followed behind, finding themselves surrounded by two marble walls and some sort of silver floor. Like the room they had just left, the grasp of darkness had lightly taken hold.

 _Welcome..._

The trio turned around, finding no other humans or digimon in the previous room. Heck, they were pretty certain it was much darker in the prior room now than before.

"Okay then." Aaron whispered, as they continued on down the hall. Occasionally, they would make a quick glance behind them, only to still found nothing.

Eventually, the hallway opened up, revealing a large rectangular room lined with doors.

As per the course of this place, this room had quite sturdy cardboard walls with a plain tile floor. In a way, this was probably better than the gray carpet and felt-covered walls found in most schools in the United States. Each door appeared to be different. Some were big, while others were small. A couple of the entrances looked quite plain, with couple just seeming too elaborate for this place.

Their gazes focused on a bright light at the far end of the tunnel, the only source of illumination they had found in a while. The trio made their way over, finding a slightly ajar door and pushed it open.

Inside, the room was just four cream-colored walls and a hardwood floor. A bed sat in the far right corner, covered in all sorts of stuffed animals. Of the many plushies that sat upon the sheets, one of them stood out. It appeared to a be a young girl, similar to a chibi. It was dressed quite casually, just a red tank top with the drogaciji symbol along with a matching skirt and sandals. A pair of purplish black bat wings had sprouted from it's back, complimenting it's pale yellow eyes and two small fangs hanging out of her mouth that went with her short red hair. In its hands was a yumi, even if it seemed psychically impossible for such thing to wield it.

Polly picked the toy up, giving it a quick examination. Other than the stuff mentioned above, a small tag labelled "Lily" was stitched into the back of the plush. While Elena did seem like that sort of person to collect these sorts of things, something about this one seemed a bit off. She placed it back down on the pillow, heading towards the door and headed out. Joey and Aaron followed right behind, not at all noticing the plush suddenly disappearing.

Outside, Chinese paper lanterns now hung by the doors of the hallway. Along with that, a soft rumbling now penetrated the silence.

 _Me sheriff now._

The rumbling grew louder as the light from the lanterns disappeared. Two headlights then basked their light upon them as the faint smell of gunpowder and gasoline filled the area.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly flung her left fist backwards, hitting something behind them. As she did that, Aaron made a quick glance behind them. In the time they had spent in Elena's room, a large armored vehicle had managed to squeeze it's way into the hallway.

".." Joey added, only for the the trio to break into a run. After all, getting killed in a hit-and-run just didn't seem like a good way to go out.

The rest of the hallway quickly turned into a blur of motion and sound. As they continued down along their merry way, the two walls began to close in and pushed everyone closer together. For our trio of heroes, that wasn't much of a problem.

 _Me get you later!_

They then slowed to a stop, taking in their new surroundings. Instead of the cardboard and white tile of the hallway, amethyst walls and an oak parquet floor had been decided on for that area. A variety of tables and chairs were scattered about, with a variety of games to boot.

'Hopefully you guys haven't worn yourselves out already.'

"Who's there?" Aaron inquired, only for laughter to fill the room as night's grip upon the room increased tenfold. They waited for a couple of minutes, only to get no response. The man then pulled a vial of purple liquid out and threw it into the air, watching the vial explode. All that was left, was nothing.

"Me."

The trio turned around, finding a solitary figure standing at the entrance. They were dressed in a burgundy cloak, with a simple white mask displaying a black smiley face.

 **Despair Beam!**

A purple beam shot out of their opponent's hands, heading right towards the trio.

 **Shadow Blaze!**

A black fireball met the beam, only for the despair beam to just explode into blank white squares at their feet. Aaron picked one of the pieces up, giving it a quick glance. It looked like one of those Polaroid pictures. You know, the kind you had to shake in order for the photo to develop. Aaron then shook it for a couple of seconds, only for no photo to form. He moved onto the next one, with the same result. One after another, he repeated this action to no avail. In it a way, it was beginning to come clear to him.

"Enough of this." he whispered, walking over to their opponent and ripped their mask off. Under the facade, Elena's face 'shined' through. Even then, it looked like more monstrous than human.

The hybrid stared at them with a look of both anger and sadness, unable to answer them. She then walked to the other side of the room, heading down the next hallway. Before they could follow, a second figure dressed in the same cloak and mask as Elena appeared before them. Strangely, this goon was armed with a rocket launcher.

 _You don't get it, do you?_

The figure's rocket launcher then glowed, only for a line of rockets to shoot out.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly slammed her fist into the nearest projectile, watching it spin out of control and into a second missile. What followed, was a chain reaction that managed to destroy the explosives safely.

 _Go ahead and make a snappy comeback. We both know the truth._

Their opponent then stepped aside, mumbling something about time manipulation and bird sex. The three merely ignored him, heading into the next hallway...

* * *

Notes:

A yumi is a Japanese bow, usually about 5-6 feet in height. Unlike most bows, one doesn't have to draw the bowstring all the way back.

The plush holding said yumi, Lily, is actually based on an unused character of the same name from one of my unfinished stories, now on A03.

Personally, I really don't like how the original version of this chapter came out. Mostly due to how OOC Polly came off as.

.

Next Time: Let's head deeper, why don't we?


	9. Red Rose Garden

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 10

Red Rose Garden

The trio continued their way down the hallway, with everything seeming quite normal at the moment.

Unlike the previous room they had just left, blood red walls and a poop brown floor were all they got. Not a single light could be found within this area, making it a tiny bit harder to traverse the area. Occasionally, a brief chill came over them. Yet every time they checked, they found themselves to be the only ones in the hallway.

"Who's there?" Polly whispered, taking a deep breath.

Polly was forced against the wall, a transparent hand grabbing hold of her neck.

The monk looked down at her hand, finding it not there at all. The rest of her body quickly followed suit as she faded away.

"Okay then." Aaron remarked, only for the hallway behind them to suddenly disappear in a flash of thick grey smoke.

They continued on for what seemed like an eternity, coming upon a wall. Not that there was anything special about it, since said wall looked like all the other walls in the hallway. After staring at the damn thing for a couple of minutes, Aaron finally decided to place a hand against it, only for it to make no contact. He then pulled his hand back and walked through.

At first, it looked like he was going to make it. With each step, he fell a little bit farther into the void below. Eventually, he fallen so far that Joey was unable to make him out within the black darkness of the void.

He took a deep breath, sitting himself down. As much as he didn't want to accept the possible fate these people had planned to give him, it was best to wait for the moment. The cold feeling then returned to him, only for a sudden force to push through the wall and hit him...

.

Elena opened her eyes.

Currently, she found herself chained to a post, bathed in the light of the moon. The corsair was currently in her digimon form, yet something felt off about it. The past couple hours were a hazy blur up to this point, unable to put any of it into the cohesive piece. She made a quick glance down at the ground, finding a single undeveloped Polaroid at her feet. She made a quick glance at it, the events coming back to her.

"What have I done?" Elena thought, taking a deep breath as her gaze focused on the pole opposite to her. Chained to that pole, was the plush from the previous chapter. She had seen the toy only a couple of times yet, it seemed to want something of her.

 **Memory Blast!**

The beam shot out, only for nothing to happen. She then balled herself up, which was quite harder than one expected it to be. Her next escape attempt involved slamming her large body into the chains, only to get the exact same result.

"Concentrate, Elena, concentrate."

The hybrid took a few more deep breaths and did the closest thing to stretching a chained large rubber bird thing could manage. After a couple of repetitions of this, Elena managed to switch back to her human form. She then went for her kris, managing to grab hold of both blades.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena threw both daggers above her, watching as both blades twirled through the air and slam into the chains. The bindings promptly shattered, releasing their grip upon her.

"I did it." she thought, quickly dusting herself off and headed over to the opposite pillar. Compared to the "prison" she had just broken out of, this pillar had twice as many chains upon it.

"Good, you're awake." a voice announced, breaking any silence that remained in the area. _  
_

Elena looked all around, eventually settling on the plushie chained in front of her. It was that of a succubus, dressed in a red tank top marked with the drogaciji symbol with a matching short skirt and sandals. Two small purple bat-like wings hung out from the back, complementing her pale yellow eyes and a pair of small fangs hanging out of her mouth,

"Uh... Hello?" she whispered, cautious of her fellow prisoner. The plush's face then moved, possibly in a small attempt at acknowledging the girl.

"Free me and I shall fix it." the voice added, the thing just about ready to do it without help from Elena.

The two stared blankly at each other, possibly attempting to send some sort of telepathic message between the two.

 **Gale Strike!**

The corsair's daggers charged with bluish green energy once more, easily slicing through the bindings.

The plush then jumped down to the ground, holding her free hand open. Elena only stared at her, unsure what to do next. She knew what the person wanted but, could she really trust her? While this thing did know something about the device, she couldn't be too sure whether or not it would double cross her.

"You helped me, so I'll help you." After saying that, the plush then jumped into the air and whispered something into her friend's ear. The corsair then pulled a plain pocketwatch out, watching as the cloth and stuffing creature carefully fixed it. While the device looked mostly the same, it still didn't actually tell time yet.

"Thanks." Elena whispered, heading towards the right side of the room. Her friend followed right behind, as if this was the mother duckling she had chose to raise her. "Do you have to follow me?"

"Yes, for that is our promise." the plush answered and clapped, making a yumi appear in her hands. Elena stared towards her, possibly racking her mind for that coming conversation. "For now, just think of me as your companion."

Elena only sighed. For as much as she wanted to question her new-found partner, that would have to wait.

"At the very least, you can tell me your name."

"Lily." the plush whispered, sliding her hand against the wall. Elena followed suit, searching intently for some sort of hidden secret. Eventually, both sets of hands grasped onto a metallic object, and pulled it open. On the other side, they found themselves in a quite plain room. Four white walls engulfed them, which sort of went with a boring grey carpet. As with all the other rooms, the darkness had already taken hold. But, the dark now seemed softened by the coming dawn. As such, light shadows had formed off of something further down. Just the sheer chance that the shadows were their friends was merely enough to get Elena to break into a run. Lily followed suit, making sure she had an arrow ready to fly.

As they got closer, the shadows became much clearer. It was three more masked figures. While they hadn't noticed either Elena or Lily, they were currently dragging the bodies of her teammates, who were still out for the count.

 **Gale Strike!**

The corsair then grabbed Lily off the ground and threw her into the air. She then slammed both of her daggers into her partner, watching the mini succubus fly through the air and fire off a barrage of arrows upon their possible opponents.

As Lily did that, Elena charged towards the group and unleashed a flurry of stabs and slashes upon the three opponents.

"This matter is none of your business!" Goon #1 announced, shooting a stream of bubbles into their direction. As terrifying as that sounded, the attack was as even less effective than the move 'splash' from Pokemon.

After a couple rounds of arrows and stab wounds, their first opponent retreated. The two then turned their attention to goons #2 and 3. While possibly tougher than their previous opponent, it probably wouldn't matter at the moment. As long as they tried their hardest, nothing could strike them down.

"Uh.. aren't you going to attack us?" one of the goons remarked, not at all realizing what they had just said.

 **Full Auto Fire!**

Before either Elena or Lily could attack, a stream of bullets slammed into the two figures and forced them to retreat. In the process of that, the opposing duo dropped the two other bodies.

"Uh thanks?" Lily whispered and looked over the now awake humans.

"So much for investigating."

"Mom, it's Saturday."

Joey didn't say anything, checking his notes. The group then turned their attention to the wall, which was more of a window than a barrier. On the other side, stood Alice...

* * *

Notes:

Personally, I think this is better than the original chapter. I could be wrong though.

.

Next Time: Now, let's have a tea party!


	10. A Very WTF Chapter

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 11

A Very WTF Chapter

For as glad as the group was to see their teammate, something felt off about her.

"Alice, are you alright?" Joey whispered, only for a bullet to slightly graze his left cheek. A slight flesh wound that could be easily fixed once they got outside and found their digimon.

"Who the heck are you people?" 'Alice' asked, her body shaking quite rapidly. Even her guns weren't immune to it, seeming to shake even more than the rest of her body.

"We're your friends. Don't you remember us?" Elena calmly answered as she pulled both of her daggers back out. "So, please stop this at once."

'Alice' silently walked over to Elena and attempted to slapped her. What followed was a few near misses, one of which resulting in the 'gambler' unintentionally giving Elena a very awkward kiss. Eventually, she did manage the feat.

"My name is Suiko Tanaka," the girl explained as she took a few steps back. "I don't know who you people even are or what the heck you want with me, but please just leave me alone!"

The group then stood there and waited for a couple of seconds. After, an ebony-furred feline entered the room. Strangely, it seemed to have some clue what was going on, judging by the look it gave Elena and Lily. For the rest of them, it gave them a quick glance of pity and returned it's focus back to Elena and Lily.

"Liora!"

Elena then hugged the cat, only for it to walk over to 'Suiko' and paw at her legs.

"What is the meaning of this?!" the cat shouted, just about ready to claw the shooter apart. "Is this how you plan to repay me?"

'Suiko' rolled her eyes, unsure of whether to answer the talking cat.

"Then tell me what is going on then..." she announced, the shaking now much less noticeable. "That's all I want to know. If you don't, I'll shoot all of you!"

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena pulled both of her kris out and charged towards Suiko, knocking the gambler's guns to the ground. After, Liora scooped them up and placed them on the table. The cat then pointed her attention at them, quite furious with most of them for some unknown reason. It probably had something to do with their romp through the halls from a few minutes ago.

"Care to explain all the destruction you just caused?" Liora shouted, slamming her paw against the ground. "I realize that only three of you are actual students and all, but this sort of behavior is truly unwarranted in every extent of the word!"

Elena's group only stood there, waiting for the creature to continue. When it didn't, they all took a deep breath and slightly relaxed themselves.

"Sorry about that, teach." Elena answered, taking a deep breath. "I should have probably sent a much clearer message to you guys."

Liora then sighed, pawing lightly at the corsair's arm.

"It's alright, child. You were just doing what you believed was right at the time."

The two then turned their gazes towards Alice, who had now fallen to the ground. A few seconds later, the gambler got back up and seemed totally unfazed by what had just happened. Heck, she seemed slightly happier then before.

"Why are you looking at me?" she started, only to dust herself off. "Not entirely sure what got into me."

"Care to explain?" Aaron inquired, only to receive no answer from the gambler. For now, it was probably better that way.

Everyone stared at her for a few seconds, taking a deep breath afterwards. At the very least, they got that problem solved. After thanking the nice cat for fixing their friend, they headed back into the halls of this madhouse. All that was left to do, was find the exit and leave this place.

"Uh, guys..." Elena remarked and came to a stop. Gone was the series of hallways they had just left, having been replaced with a labyrinth of mostly left turns.

"Did you really expect me to let you people out that easily?!"

"Yes." the group announced in unison and pulled their respective weapons out. While they hadn't really planned to take one more opponent on, it would work as good practice for future fights.

"Well too bad!"

A large fin then swept across the area, knocking everyone to the ground.

"So we're facing a fish then?" Joey added, shooting out a shadow flare towards their possible opponent. A few seconds later, goldfish crackers rained down upon them. "What the fuck?"

The group looked among each other, entirely unsure what had just transpired. Not even any of the drogaciji students themselves had an explanation for it. Once they had finished collecting their snack, the maze faded away and a normal hallway replaced it. At the very least, they probably wouldn't have to deal with that nuisance anytime soon. They then headed off, finally getting through a room without anything out of the ordinary happening to them. Eventually, the doors came into view.

"Finally."

"Took us long enough."

"Thank god!"

"Oh well. I'll investigate some other time in the future."

"I guess all good things must to come to an end."

After saying that, their gazes focused on the western wall. There, someone had painted a mural of a large cat beast being taken on by four people armed with weapons. While no victor was shown, it looked to be an even match by digitalverse standards. Outside of that multiverse, there was no chance in hell of the heroes even succeeding.

"I feel sorry for them." Alice announced as she gazed intently at the wall. "Those people probably haven't realized how screwed they actually are."

The rest of the group stared at her, possibly having a much different opinion than the gambler did.

"Personally, I think they'll succeed." Elena responded and pushed the invisible barrier open.

Outside, everything looked the same. As such they made their way back on the bus without even saying a word to each other or their digimon. There, they sat themselves down on the bus for the long journey ahead.

"Who's the weird girl following you, Elena?" Carinamon inquired, only for Lily to perk up.

"That's Lily." Elena explained as Carinamon gave the succubus a stink eye.

And so we focus on Joey, who still has one thing left to do.

"Do you still have it?" Joey inquired.

"Yep." Tsukaimon answered, regurgitating up a small journal that his human had stuffed in a small plastic bag. The scientist then pulled it out, proceed to pull it open and read the first page.

.

Dear Diary,

Today, my campaign to conquer this world begins. Before me, is a big large world that will soon be mine. and yet, I seem to have deja vu...

* * *

Notes:

Personally, this chapter just needed a full-on rewrite. Mostly since a majority of the plot had changed for this arc and I don't like the original chapter.

The end is a start point for A Conqueror's Diary. Read at your own risk.

.

Next Time: Information on the chapter is unknown. Those that do want to know can go ask Alice.


	11. Go Ask Alice

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 12

Go Ask Alice

The ride back to the digital world wasn't anything that interesting. Mostly due to the scenery consisting of puke tripping out on LSD.

For Alice, it was one of the few reassurances of her failure. Every time she saw this puke, it signaled the loosening of her grip of control. Soon, they would know the truth about her and she wouldn't be able to hide. Once more, the gambler would be all alone, whether she wanted too or not.

*Do you have to be so moody about all of this?* Suiko thought as she stared through 'Alice's' eyes. While she already knew what Alice was going to say, it still felt nice to have her guess be right. That was the hardest part about sharing a body. Even within peace and quiet, there was no privacy. It probably didn't help that she could quite explain why or how she was in this body, not that Alice seemed that much of a hurry to figure that one out.

Before Alice could answer though, bright light invaded her vision as the world began to spin around.

When the light and dizziness finally faded away, the gambler no longer found herself in the bus. Instead, she found herself standing in a city underneath a crimson sky. Once mighty skyscrapers were now just towering pillars of twisted metal and glass. What remained of the ground was mostly ashes and rubble. The only thing of real interest appeared to be a figure out in the distance.

"Hello?" Alice shouted and got no response. "If there is anyone out there, just give me a sign!"

The person then waved their hand, feeling Alice with some hope. Silence now filled her head now, with no sign of Suiko within. Normally, this would be a massive relief. But here, something felt off about it. She wasn't sure what it was or why that may be, but it seemed to gnaw at her.

So, she did the natural thing for this sort of situation. Run towards the person waving at you. Yet no matter how far she seemed to travel in connection to the other person, it seemed to never change at all. It was probably nothing more than a mirage at best. Not that was it was hot enough for such a phenomenon to occur. Nonetheless, she took a deep breath and looked down at herself.

Gone was the overdone 'pristine' dress and body of Alice Zwingli, having been replaced by some large hideous white cat creature.

"How is this even possible?" Alice shouted and began to look all around. For being such a large four-legged creature, this was a lot easier than one would think it would be. It was still the same desolate city as before, with the only difference being everything seeming slightly smaller in proportion to the feline. "Better yet, why am I a massive cat?"

Alice's question got no answer, instead just barely making out a bullet heading right towards her head. If she had her gun, maybe she would have fired back. But alas, that wasn't the case.

She closed her eyes, feeling the bright light and dizziness once more. When it finally faded away, the gambler found herself back on the bus, sitting in her seat.

*There you are!* Suiko announced as Alice took a deep breath, attempting to ignore the voice. "I thought I had lost you!"

"What do you mean?" the gambler thought and gazed around the interior of the bus. Other than the fact they had now landed back in the desert, there wasn't really anything that different from before. "What are you even talking about?"

Suiko didn't answer, instead deciding to just let the gambler explain what had happened to her.

Once she was done recounting her story, Alice made a quick glance down at herself. Gone was the large body of that white feline, with her usual appearance having returned to her. Along with that, a white paper bag now sitting in her lap. While she wasn't quite sure who had left it here, the person in question was nice enough to leave her a note.

 _Alice,_

 _Joey and I went to grab our bags and stuff. Polly and Aaron along with the digimon are setting up camp not that far from here. Hopefully, you'll join us there._

 _-Elena_

The gambler only sighed and unwrapped the burger, taking a huge bite out of it. While it wasn't anything that exceptional, it would be enough to stave off hunger until the next proper meal.

"That was awfully nice of her." Alice thought as she stared off into space. "May I should spare her... nah."

*Are you seriously still focused on that?* Suiko inquired as she watched the gambler eat. Maybe one day, she would be able to do the same. But for now, she would have to deal with only being able to just look at the delicacies. *You realize there's a whole lot of other ways we could solve this."

Alice didn't answer, instead finishing up her lunch. Once that was done, she tossed the trash into the bag and got up. While her plan was a pipe-dream for the moment, something to keep in the back of her mind for the time being. But for now, there were much more pressing matters to be dealt with. More specifically, getting to this camp her 'friends' had decided to set up. If nothing else, she could just use it as a time to reflect and possibly find the origin of that girl...

.

She was 12 now, wide-eyed and naive. Currently, she found herself in a room. It wasn't anything that remarkable, just a bare with just enough room for a table and some folding chairs. But, it would work perfectly for the purposes of the people here. Normally, Suiko wouldn't have came, but she didn't have anything better to do at the day. For the occasion, she was dressed in a white sailor fuku with a blue skirt. Everyone else was dressed far more casually, making her the odd one out.

"Anyone up for a game of poker?" someone had suggested, with most of the group agreeing as well.

Reluctantly, she sat herself down at the table. The schoolgirl sat right in the middle, focusing her gaze on the only thing that mattered at the moment. The cards in front of her. In that one moment, everything seemed to clicked, and 'Alice' was born.

A year quickly flew by, with the gambler casually juggling school, personal and her gambling. No more did the unimportant schoolgirl known as Suiko Tanaka exist, having become the suave beauty known as Alice Zwingli. She was currently in a underground tournament, with just her and the opponent at the final table. It had all came down to this one hand. The dealer dealt the cards, not at all interacting with either of them. Such a formality could make or break this game. It wasn't something you would leave up to chance. She made a quick glance at her cards, the king and queen of diamonds. Afterwards she turned her attention to the person who dealt it. They were both the angel and the demon of this game, capable of changing the game with a single move.

"Raise." Alice whispered and threw some chips down, watching them go all-in. What followed was the flop, with neither player gaining the edge upon a trio of junk. Next came the turn, which was a similar story as the flop. It would all come down to the final card, the river. Alice took a deep breath and kept her gaze upon the dealer.

The river was the king of spades. While not anything to be amazed by, it was all the gambler needed to secure her victory.

"Good game." the opponent whispered and walked away, seeming quite happy about all of this for some reason. But she pushed that to the back of her mind and went to claim her prizes. More specifically, a portion of the prize money and a large egg.

Once that was all said and done, Alice made her way out.

"Sure it was." the gambler whispered as she headed back to her hotel room. "Truly hollow."

Alice made a quick glance behind her, just catching a glance of a cat. She pushed that too the back of her mind, reaching her room without any more incidents. Once inside, Alice placed the egg on the bed and sat down beside it. For now she just wanted to relax, even if it probably would've been better to answer all the text messages from her parents. But that could wait for later. For now though, her focus was on the egg. How this was a prize at a tournament was beyond her. It was almost as if this was all some elaborate set-up to trap her. But why, exactly? For the moment, it was just another thing to keep in the back of her head. She then leaned back on the egg, only to hear a loud 'crack'. The gambler turned around, finding a small koala-esque creature sitting in front of her.

"I'm hungry!" the creature announced and Alice did a double take, taking another deep breath.

Once more, time rushed forward. This one having occurred just a couple weeks ago. Alice now stood within a hospital room, looking over the bodies of her parents. The one on her left, a blonde haired woman dressed in a hospital gown. The only defining feature for her appeared to be a silver necklace with a shield shaped pendant. Said pendant consisted of a sword and pencil, locked in combat. Her father was a black haired man, dressed in a similar fashion to his wife, necklace and all. As she stared down at them, a feeling of both justice and regret came over her.

"I'll find who did this to you." the gambler whispered and took a deep breath, quickly making her exit. For now, she would just have to move on and uphold that promise. Whether or not she was capable of doing just that was another question.

With that, her memories melded back into the sands of the desert.

.

"Here we are." Alice whispered. "Truce for now?"

The camp wasn't that impressive, consisting of a bunch of tents. And yet, it would work for the group.

*Truce for now.* Suiko answered as Elena ran up to them.

"There you are!" the gale corsair greeted and wrapped her arms around Alice. "I was starting to think I would have to go and fetch you."

"Yeah thanks."

While unable to find what she was looking for, the gambler settled in for the night. For now, she would just have to bide her time and wait...

* * *

Notes:

This one was a long time coming. Even then, I am actually quite happy with how this turned out.

.

Next Time: Some things never do change...


	12. Target

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 12

Target

Adrian Gostelow took a deep breath.

For this special occasion, he had decided upon a plain black suit with matching pants that seemed to compliment his blue eyes and short black hair. Currently, he was standing before the entrance to a large grey building. Strangely, a large colorful sign sat on its roof, reading 'Jester Entertainment'.

He took a deep breath and sighed, returning his attention to the plain set of doors that would take him inside. Adrian then walked over, carefully pushing the doors open and headed through.

Judging by the interior, it would appear there had been some sort of mutiny within the workers. Judging by the blue and orange lava lamp-style floor and an entire wall dedicated to an aquarium. Not even the chairs escaped this mad decorator's wrath, having been replaced with a weird hybrid between a bean bag and a bar stool. How that even worked is beyond me. It just does.

Nonetheless, Adrian made his way over to the reception desk, where a teenage girl dressed in a maid outfit stood. The only interesting thing about her appeared to be her auburn hair and reddish orange eyes.

"My, you're a sight for sore eyes." the girl remarked, only for Adrian to roll his eyes. "And yet you, the SHSL inventor lives on. Miss Arcana is waiting for you."

"Whatever, Cora." Adrian answered, cracking a sly smile. "So, I'm guessing I don't need to tell you why I have come."

The maid did not answer, instead mumbling something about family and stuff.

"Hmm..." Cora whispered as she watched the guest head through a nearby door. "But don't blame me if you don't get what you want."

For Adrian though, a 'hallway' was what awaited him. And by that, I mean it looked like a third grader had drawn it in the dark. Possibly with a white crayon to boot. Nonetheless, the inventor headed on and decided to just hum some sort song. It was probably from something along the lines of '1000% Sparkling' or 'Miracle Go'. You know, a bubbling song from a magical girl anime.

"Does it really matter?" the scientist whispered as he took a deep breath. For the million reasons he had to not head through the next door, there was one good enough reason to do it. If he didn't, it would be sign that the opponent had won.

He reached out towards the door, pulling it open.

Inside, Adrian found in a large empty room. It was decorated with all the traditional fixings of an office, minus one important thing. There was no desk, just a swivel chair and a normal chair. Of course, a familiar third-person speaking jester sat in the swivel chair.

"Adrian took too long." Jestery remarked as she spun around in her chair. "What does Adrian want now?"

Adrian shook the piece of plastic, causing it to reform into a longsword. The only big difference being its lack of a hand guard and the blade slightly curving at the end.

"You know why I am here." Adrian answered as he pointed the sword towards his possible opponent.

"Go on ahead, blame Jestery. Better yet, go and blame sweet mommy kitty Victoria for this." Jestery remarked and Adrian rolled his eyes. "It won't change the truth of this matter."

.

Cycle 1, Digital World

It had been a wonderful day in the Order's main base.

Scientists were hard at work, coming with all sorts of breakthroughs to possibly bring humanity beyond what they currently were at the moment.

Back then, Adrian had been stationed in 'mission control' as part of the bigger group. The whole organization was the result of a joint partnership between three of Japan's most prestigious academies. The first, Mahora Academy, had been known for questionable hiring practices. And by that, I mean being totally willing to just allowing a ten year old child to be part of their facility staff. Somehow, this was enough to awaken the latent powers of his class and cancel out the variety of other questionable stuff they had decided to do.

The second, Hope's Peak, garnered a reputation of turning above average high schoolers into the greatest minds of many respective fields. Never mind their gradually declining funds and total willingness to change average people into 'hope-filled' edgelords. Because bringing hope to all requires turning everyone into Mary Sues and Gary Stus for some reason.

The third, Drogaciji Academy, was the odd one out. They didn't really have a particular focus for their students. Instead choosing to pick those that were unique or didn't quite fit within the general perception of the public. The catch though, was that they 'held onto' these people for an extended period of time. And by that, I mean forever. Rarely does one truly graduate from there. Those that have claimed to have either had some sort of deal worked out or were straight-up liars. Or both. You never could tell with these sorts of people.

At that very moment, the scientist had been interacting with one Verena Tanaka as his wife Lauren watched on.

"Here's your information, Mr Gostelow." the woman explained and held a flash drive out. Adrian quickly snatched the object, ignoring the obvious questions such aswhere she got it or or where exactly she had been keeping it within her cocktail dress. "I hope you put it to good use."

"I will." Adrian whispered and turned his attention back to his wife. "Ready to do this?"

Lauren nodded, quickly changing from a t-shirt and jeans to a labcoat in a matter of seconds. But just as he was about the insert the device in, a 'potted cactus' pricked him.

"What, Prickle?" Adrian shouted only for the cactus to shake its 'head'.

"We have a problem." Prickle answered and took a hop back.

"As in what? Is this a 'We're out of cookies' problem or is this a 'holy shit, things are going horribly wrong' problem?"

"The second one." the cactus added and took the equivalent of a deep breath.

"Then spill it out." Lauren added as she and Verena walked over. Prickle then opened his mouth, only for a teenage boy and girl to walk up. The boy was dressed primarily in a silver jumpsuit, which somehow went quite well with his matching hair and eyes. The girl on the other hand, was dressed in a mix of a red vest with a white t-shirt and plaid skirt. A black tie hung around her neck, seeming to contrast quite greatly with her lime green hair and matching emotionless eyes.

"Yes, spill it out." the emotionless girl whispered and stared down towards the potted cactus.

Prickle then took a deep breath, making sure he had enough room to not stick a needle into someone's skin.

"The subjects have escaped." Prickle finally answered. "I'm not quite sure who exactly allowed them out, but they're out."

The various heads of the order looked among each other with a mix of anger and confusion. In a way, this was something they brought upon themselves. And now, it would be their fellow researchers that would be paying that price.

But in that moment, none of them really cared. For they had a job to do.

As that line was spoken, the memory faded away.

.

"Good times, weren't they?" Jestery taunted, grinning at Adrian. "Adrian, up for chess?"

Adrian didn't answer, instead he decided to just watch as the jester pulled the board and pieces out from somewhere. She then placed it down on the table, placing the black side at her end. Sadly, the SHSL Inventor was not in the mood for such a game and instead chose to slam his longswords towards his gracious host.

"Number #6, Siren Valida or the Practical Mermaid as it's sometimes known." Jestery taunted and conjured a photo of Polly along with one of zippo lighters. She then gave the device a slight flick, watching a small flame form. "You tempted fate once, do you really think you can make lightning strike twice?"

"So what? We were able to save her!" Adrian shouted. "Personally, he should be thanking us. If it weren't for us, she would just be flesh and blood for that beast."

Jestery only laughed, choosing to move the picture even closer to the lighter.

"Oopsy!"

In a matter of seconds, the photo was now just ashes on the desk. Strangely though, the picture reformed into some kind of playing card made up of a bunch of other cards.

"You've already made your decision, haven't you?" Jestery whispered and took a deep breath. She then slammed her hands together, conjuring up a pair of butterfly blades. Unlike the ones usually used by her mother, Jestery's had an ebony handle with a silver blade. "And to think, I was willing to give her to you. I guess I'll just go with my other option then."

"Do you really think that scares me?" Adrian answered and readied his blade for one more strike.

"For so long, we have been your toys, trapped in a never-ending loop of life and death." Jestery screamed, kicking Adrian out of his chair and onto the ground. "Soon, all that will change. No more will we stand by and let you people have your way, for the wheel of fortune is now spinning in our direction!"

 **Jestery Trick!**

The jester threw both of her blades up into the air, causing it to reform into a butterfly-like shape. The animated creature then slammed itself down, impaling itself into Adrian. Afterwards, the blade returned to Jestery, who watched as the inventor teleported away.

"I have done it." she thought and clapped her hands together, watching her weapons dissipate into air once more...

* * *

Notes:

Overall, this wasn't that bad of a chapter to edit. The hardest part was finding the time to do so.

.

Next Time: We return to Elena's group, with the spotlight on Joey...


	13. Don't Fall Asleep

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 13

Don't Fall Asleep

Night had now fallen upon the camp.

With it, bringing forth the usual darkened sky and endless fields of twinkling stars. It was a time of calmness and serenity, a chance to reflect upon events of the previous days.

But for Joey, it meant something else entirely. While everyone else was in their tents sleeping, the scientist was tending to the fire and jotting down his notes. Tsukaimon laid beside him, cradling a small teacup in his front 'hooves'.

"Let's see." he thought and stared down at his notes.

 _...The power of the shadows is equally proportionate to the powers of divine. As bright light is cast forth from the element shines, there will be some trace of shadow within. and when the gloomy darkness of the shadows are cast down somewhere or upon someone, some form of divine light can still be found. Neither divine or shadow are inherently good or evil. They are neutral elements, capable of existing alongside the other infusion elements in a fragile harmony..._

While this kind of thing sort of made sense, it felt like a mix of wisdom and complete gibberish. Though, that notion could probably be extended to a lot of this multiverse. Not that Joey really cared about that at the moment, choosing instead to stare off towards the northwest. It was here where the never-ending sands of the desert met the dark and twisted woods of the forest. Those two places couldn't be nothing more unlike each other. Yet, something about them seemed to whisper otherwise.

"Ready for bed?" Tsukaimon whispered, only for Joey's gaze to fixate upon said divide. A mist-like figure stood there, seemingly staring towards them. "What's wrong? Someone out there who wants to take us down?"

"I'm not sure." the scientist answered and stood up, pulling his staff out in the process. "They don't seem hostile, but you can never know."

One could never be too sure in a place like this. In a way it reminded him of that duo of episodes related to Datamon and his capture of Sora. At the time, nobody had really expected that. What had followed was a chase through a maze, only for the heroes to find themselves attacked by an army of Sora clones. After a strategic retreat, the remaining chosen regrouped and freed Sora. Afterwards, they used the usual strategy. Act like they were all tanks, even when a better solution existed. Alas, they were all one intelligence point from figuring that out.

For Joey, it fell into the category of lesser-liked episodes. While there really wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, he just didn't really care for it. That was beyond the point. For now, he would have to keep his guard up and stand vigilant. Who know what could possibly sneak up and attempt to kill them in their sleep.

But who was he kidding? Aegiochusmon and/or Astamon were far better options as guards. Outside of his notes, there really was only one reason that he was still awake. What that reason was exactly, was a secret to everyone.

"What do we have here?"

The scientist turned around, just barely making out a blur of blackish grey energy not that far from the two of them. Every bit of warmth brought in by the fire seemed to instantly melt away with this unknown presence.

"Huh?" he whispered and pulled the instrument towards himself, mumbling an unknown and possibly eldritch phrase under his breath.

 **Shadow Pact.**

As much as he wanted to shout it at the top of his lungs, that just seemed like a rude thing to do those attempting to slumber. He doubted any of the people currently slumbering would enjoy having to hear someone shout.

For a brief second, pain surged through his body. It was quickly replaced by strength borrowed from an unknown source, where exactly was unknown. There were probably much better things to be focusing on. Things such as Tsukaimon's lack of tea, his notes or even the mysterious voice. Yet, this what the author wanted to know for some reason. Even if he already knew the answer to said question.

"Show yourself, you coward!" Tsukaimon shouted as he flung his teacup onto the sand. Joey only gave him a cautious glance, which got followed up by a creepy laugh that seemed to chill the air even more.

"Fine then."

With that, a thin grey mist engulfed the area, leaving just enough visibility behind for one to just make out a generic cloud of something. It was probably something cliche like darkness or negative. Heck, it could be both for all intents and purposes.

"Please shut up."

Of course, that request fell upon deaf ears as Joey focused his gaze upon the cloud.

"I'm Joey Spence." the scientist greeted, feeling quite odd to say his last name. "And that's Tsukaimon."

The purple pig nodded in agreement, even if he was ready to growl at the thing.

"Despair, headmaster of the wonderful academy off in the forest." the other end of the conversation whispered and cracked the cloud equivalent of a 'smile'. "You have so much potential, a shame I can't ta- I mean enroll."

Joey gave the cloud a confused look, unsure of how to interpret this. While it was a nice compliment, something about this person seemed very off. Sort of like Datamon, in some respects.

"What are you even talking about?" the cloud drifted towards him, now intent on taking him in. Whether or not it would though, was up for debate.

 **Joey infusion digivolve too... ShadowAngemon.**

Gone was the teenage boy, getting replaced with a grey ghost-like figure resembling that of the great angelic digimon.

 **Shadow Blaze.**

The scientist swung his staff out in front of him, flinging a black fireball towards the target. Yet, they only stood there and just took the blow for some reason. Heck, it probably made them even bigger than before. It also made using his other attack upon them a foolish endeavor.

"For a group affiliated with one of my 'great comrades', you leave a lot to be desired." Despair announced, only take on a more humanoid shape as it approached. "Makes one wonder if he lost his touch."

The other side of the conversation gave it another confused glance, still not quite sure how to respond to this information. Not that it could blame the boy for acting in such a way. Yet, that still left a unique opportunity.

"Okay..." Joey whispered, only for his body to suddenly lock up. "What?"

Tsukaimon was a similar story, with the pig even further away from his goal of a cup of tea. Though, this somehow didn't stop either of them from intensely glaring at their foe.

"Sweet Dreams..."

With that, our two heroes quickly felt the tight yet bitter embrace of the dark...

* * *

Notes:

I feel this is much better than the original chapter. While not perfect, it fits far better with what's planned.

The title for this session is in reference to an old digimon adventure fic by the same name. If you have the time, its worth checking out.

.

Next Time: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?


	14. Joey's Very WTF Chapter

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 15

Joey's Very WTF Chapter

Joey opened his eyes.

The camp was still there, with him laying by the fire. The only difference he could really tell was the fire having burnt out and Tsukaimon just disappearing on him. Well, if you didn't count the unnatural gray hazy sky above.

"Hello Joey." a voice whispered and the scientist turned around, finding what appeared to be ShadowAngemon. Or would have, if the 'armor' wasn't hunched over and looked like some sort wild animal.

"Who are you?" he whispered and watched the armor 'laugh'.

"I'm you."

Joey did a double take, unsure of how to react to all of this. While he guessed that statement sort of made sense, something about made it seem otherwise. He doubted whatever force that had brought this thing to life just wanted a quick chat and send him on his way. No, there was a far bigger reason for this meaning. But what exactly? Could it be to corrupt him into some champion of darkness? Or perhaps, break him down in order to possess his body.

"Uh... That isn't why you were brought here."

The two focused their vision upon each other, intent on figuring out the other's motives. At best, it was an intense staring contest. At worst, the two were just wasting time.

"Then why am I even here?" Joey whispered, only for the armor to 'sigh'. A pair of shadowy spikes shot out of the opponent's hands, ready to slice his body into a million pieces.

"There are many that wish to see if you're ready to truly behold the shadows and what supposedly lies beyond it."

"Such as?"

There was no answer, only the screech of an unknown beast. He pulled his staff out and gave it a slight flick, watching it extend. Yet, there was something different about it. It felt heavier than the usual, with a bit of the weight focused on the upper end of the weapon. It would explained the light gray 'runes' carved near the top.

"Okay..." he thought and watched as the armor charged towards him.

 **Dark Pact!**

Pain surged through his body once more, bringing forth some unnatural strength as the beast charged towards him. He swung his staff out, watching it pass through. In retrospect, he probably should have realized that wouldn't work.

 **Shadow Flare!**

A purple fireball shot out of the creature's helmet, hurtling right towards the boy. At least this time, Joey could actually reflect the projectile.

"So how many people want to know about me?" Joey inquired, only for the armor to just stare at him.

"Uh... Let me go ask my boss about that." the armor answered and stood back up, pulling out a phone in the process. "After Joey, who else do I have terrorize? Oh. I mean, how many people want to know about this guy. He seems like a loser."

"Hey!"

"Uh, I mean he seems like an alright dude."

"You do realize that we're paying you to do absolutely nothing, nya?" the voice on the other end remarked, only to suddenly cut off.

"Crap." the armor whispered as drifted over to Joey. "Uh... I think you're going to need me."

"Why?"

"I mouthed off to someone I shouldn't have." the armor added as Joey gave it a confused glance. While it made sense that their existed a more powerful beings in the upper levels within the 'darkness', one would think they were on at least alright terms. Of course, this was the digitalverse. Expecting things such as a stable chain of command or a proper management structure were an absolute joke.

"Seriously?" Joey whispered and watched as the armor faded back into his body. A few seconds later, black mist filled the area. When that finally dissipated, a figure draped in a gray hooded cloak appeared before him. "Who are you?"

The figure only laughed.

"I could ask the same of you."

Everything went black as the world began to swirl all around the scientist.

Joey was nine now, bright-eyed and naive about the world.

Already, he had been ferried through at least a half dozen foster homes, each of which never quite being good matches for the boy. Whether it be due to Joey being unable to quite get acquainted with his host family, their other children or some other issue he couldn't quite remember.

And then he met 'him'. The man in question possibly had an actual name, not that he ever told the scientist it. No, he was the sort of guy who rather teach a child about robotics and engineering while putting it to use in the real world.

Here, the scientist's fascination with the shadows began. He started by looking through the various book given to him by his caretaker, eventually moving to the various sorts of literature scattered about the lab the two had called 'home'. But no matter how hard he tried, it felt like grasping at straws. The man didn't seem to help, usually telling him to dig deeper into oneself. Whatever that meant.

It was soon after that conversation that the two had to part. Not because the two weren't a good fit, no. More of, because the person in question had to leave for a far-off place for an unknown period of time.

He gave Joey two things.

The first, his notes on the shadows. While most of the stuff listed upon was possibly basic elementary stuff, it was still progress. The second, was something far less material. If one wanted to argue it, this particular memento did not count. But for Joey, it meant the world.

A pair of sentences, a purpose for the boy.

You can reach me in the digital adventure. I'll be awaiting you there.

At first glance, it seemed vague and unsatisfactory. Yet, that was what led him here. Like the shadows, it had started out simple enough. He would just watch the various seasons, searching for the supposed 'digital adventure'. In a way, he put just as much effort into that as he did the dark, endlessly searching for the supposed 'digital adventure'. It haunted him in his dreams, showing the boy an abandoned lab just out of reach, with the man waiting to see him.

And yet, the boy chose to continue his research.

This somehow brought him to an unknown person's attention, since it brought him both Tsukaimon and later, a copy of Digital Adventures Online.

Of course, that was a story for a later time, with our hero returning back to his battle.

 **Shadow Neko Scratch!**

A pair of shadowy cat claws shot out of the staff, scratching up the figure.

"Did I pass?" Joey inquired and stared towards his opponent.

"Of course." the figure whispered. "I grant you the title of Shadow Scientist."

"Thanks?"

With that, everything went black.

.

Joey opened his eyes.

At first glance, everything looked the same as before. He was still in the camp, with Tsukaimon sleeping beside him. Yet, something seemed off. Elena and Alice were sitting at the edge of their makeshift base, talking about something. Polly and Aegiochusmon he couldn't really see, but were possibly bickering about something. Which left...

"You're awake." a voice whispered and Joey looked up, finding Aaron and Cutemon standing over him. "You should be good in a couple hours."

The duo then headed off, leaving the shadow scientist to his own devices.

* * *

Notes:

And this is why I don't do Joey chapters. I guess it's an improvement over the original chapter.

.

Next Time: You reap what you sow. And now, it's harvest time.


	15. Unplanned Variables

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 16

Unplanned Variables

Aaron took a deep breath.

Even as he stared towards his opponent, there were no words to describe what he was feeling at the moment.

"Is been too long, Aegiochusmon." he whispered and watched the harem mage mutter something to Polly, who had been told to stand nicely to the side. "Or would you prefer Fate instead?"

"So what if has been?" Aegiochusmon answered and flipped him off. "Just call me Aegiochusmon, asshole."

Aaron took a deep breath and spitted towards the tree, Polly's gaze now focused on him. He just ignored her and chose instead to continue focusing on Aegiochusmon.

"Can one of you please explain why you're at each other throats?!" the monk shouted and both men took a deep breath. Only to start up a game of rock, paper, scissors for some reason, which Aegiochusmon managing to come out on top somehow.

"I guess I'll tell it then." Aaron whispered and took a deep breath. "Maybe then, we can mend what has been broken."

.

Our story begins within the first 'reset' (or cycle as it would later be called) upon the human world.

For teenage Aaron Larson, his world had just been rocked.

On the street below, what appeared to be a large green dinosaur taking on what looked like loch ness monster. It was quite a spectacular bout, the sort you only see once in a lifetime.

All around in the apartment buildings, people were taking it in. Aaron had counted at least two dozen, but who could really know. There were possibly tens, maybe hundreds

The spectacle only lasted a few brief moments, but it was enough. Most of whom, being young children and all, decided that was the greatest thing they ever saw. They would talk about it for hours on end, to the exact detail. That year, the psychology industry in the United States had a huge financial boost. But, that didn't matter to him and his friends. A couple of days had passed since the incident, so they decided to investigate the street where the incident occurred at.

"Are you sure this is the exact spot?" Aaron's friend, Vanessa Arcana asked and the young detective nodded. She was a beautiful rose among all the girls among the floor, with her long blackish purple hair, pale skin and dark blue eyes. Add in her magenta sundress and matching ballet flats, she was pretty much the one all the boys wanted to be with. If she didn't have a gang of marauding little thugs that always followed her around.

"We heard that!"

Aaron looked towards the gang of hoodlums and shook his head. While he wasn't quite sure why they were attracted to Vanessa, they did stay on their best behavior when she was around.

"Guys, it nothing to worry about." Vanessa's little sister, Valerie explained as she stared at her sister's friends. Unlike her sister, she was dressed in a quite expensive violet lolita dress and matching heels. Unlike her sister, her black hair hung down without a care. At the very least, she had Vanessa's blue eyes and pale. Strangely, she was always carrying a little black cat plush. Aaron wasn't quite sure how she

"Yes Vanessa, this was where I saw it." the wannabe detective whispered, only for his friend to ignore him. Their gazes were focused on a large plate of candy that was just sitting out in the open. "Hey!"

"We'll be back in a second!" one of Vanessa's thugs announced and ran towards the plate. The rest of the group followed right behind, leaving Aaron to his own devices. He watched as they gorged themselves on the sweets, only for his friends to disappear right before his very eyes.

If he had known the events that would quickly follow, he would have done things differently. Maybe he would have stopped them, possibly kicked the candy dish away.

"Where did they go?" Aaron whispered and examined the plate. The object appeared normal, except for the remaining candy having just disappeared with his firends for some reason.

"Scram kid."

He turned around, finding a silver-haired man standing before him. He wasn't anything interesting, just dressed in a gray jumpsuit that sort of went with his silver eyes.

"Hey." Aaron announced, only for the man to roll his eyes. "Where did you take my friends?!"

The man only laughed.

"If they matter so much to you, come and find me." The man answered as a cloud of smoke began to engulf him. "If you do, I might tell you why, little boy."

All that remained, was one of those black and white journals they hand out in schools. Aaron slowly approached the object and cautiously pulled the cover open. Inside, he found a blank page of lined paper. You know, the kind with the dark blue lines going left to right and a red line going straight down, marking out the margins. After he was finished examining it, Aaron pulled a pencil out and wrote down eight names. In a way, something clicked inside of him, as if someone had just handed him his purpose in life. In a way, this would be his mission, to find those that had been taken

The walk home was brisk and nice, but too quiet for his tastes. He liked the chatter of others, even if it didn't involve him. It was probably why he chose to hang out with Vanessa and her friends. While they weren't the nicest of people at times, he usually had a good time. His apartment building was coming into view and Aaron took a deep breath.

"There is no turning back." He thought, bolting into the lobby and heading right towards the stairs, all eight flights of them. After doing all that, he slowly walked down the hallway to his family's apartment.

Inside, it wasn't much, just four white walls and a blondish yellow colored carpet. There was the typical furniture, like a couch, a table with some chairs and three beds. Not that any of that stuff really mattered to him. His parents were the absentee kind, always working at their jobs as IT admins. At the very least, the two had taught him how to live on his own while they were gone, disappearing out of his life after that. He grabbed a yellow backpack out of the closet, finding a small pink rabbit under it.

"P-please don't kill me." The creature mumbled as Aaron just stood there, taking the sight in. While this particular creature wasn't as amazing as the large dino he had seen a couple nights ago, there still was a sense of wonder to it.

"Uh, what are you even talking about?" Aaron answered as the rabbit stumbled out of the closet and into the hallway.

"You've met them, haven't you?"

Aaron stared blankly at his newest acquaintance, only to head over to the kitchen. There, he pulled some carrots out and walked back over, giving them to the rabbit.

"T-thank you."

Aaron smiled and sat down on the floor.

"What's your name?" he inquired.

"C-cutemon of Rebirth Village." Cutemon mumbled and took a cautious step backwards, only to begin munching on the carrots provided.

"Want to join me?"

"W-where are you going?"

Aaron sat himself down, focusing his gaze on the rabbit.

"After a bad man, who kidnapped my friend."

Cutemon gave him a confused glance, doing a quick once-over of his potential partner.

"Y-you can't be serious."

"I am."

Aaron didn't realize what he had said until Cutemon perked up.

"S-sounds good, I guess."

Cutemon then took a deep breath, getting up onto his new friend's head. Aaron slipped his backpack on, making sure to grab some food, water and the notebook. The two made their way out of the apartment, heading forth into the great unknown.

.

Aaron took a deep breath and stared down towards his audience. The message had been sent and there was no undoing what could potentially happen.

"Do you understand now?" The detective explained, cracking a smile towards his captives in question, Aegiochusmon and Polly. "I held up my end, now it's time to hold up yours."

"Of course, fuckhead." Aegiochusmon whispered as Polly stared towards him. "Give me one good reason why I should tell you."

"I have a thousand reasons to kill you and yet, a thousand and one reasons to let you live." Aaron remarked, only for Aegiochusmon to break free from the ropes that bound him down. He then turned to his partner, giving her a glance. Polly reluctantly nodded and moved over to the sideline, continuing to observe.

 **Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!**

A stream of molten rock and lava shot out of Aegiochusmon's hands, heading straight towards Aaron. Strangely, the detective only smiled and pulled out a vial of dark blue liquid. He then lobbed it at the incoming beam of lava, creating a long strip of obsidian that immediately fell to the ground.

"I was hoping that we could've done this in a peaceful, believe it or not." Aaron whispered and took a deep breath. "But, something tells me that things aren't going "

The detective then dropped the vial on the ground, only for a rocket-propelled shark to slam into Aegiochusmon and grab hold. The driver of the vehicle then sped off and took Aegiochusmon with him.

Polly turned her attention to Aaron, slowly walking over to him.

"How dare you." the monk announced, a thick purple outline appearing around her. "Who were those people?!"

She then slammed her fist into Aaron, watching him slam into a nearby tree. Nonetheless, the detective pulled himself up and took a deep breath.

"Those were the dark blades, what remains of my former friends." Aaron whispered as he stared towards the monk. "I was hoping to use them as leverage when talking with Aegiochusmon."

Before Polly could answer, Jestery fell out of the tree and onto Polly.

"Jestery used drop kick! Critical Hit!" Jestery announced and got off of the monk. She then clapped her hands together, teleporting Polly away. "Good luck, Aaron!"

Aaron just stood there and watched as the jester faded away in a cloud of smoke. Afterwards, he took a deep breath and stared down at the ground. He hadn't intended for this to be the outcome of this. Yet, he would have to live with it.

* * *

Notes:

At the very least, Aaron is a little less of an asshole this time around.

.

Next Time: I'm not saying, for I've given enough hints...


	16. Monsters

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 16

Monsters

Screaming.

It was the one sound that Aegiochusmon hated the most. He covered his ears and took a deep breath. It all came rushing back to him in one large torrent, forcing his eyes back open. Gone was the confusing mess known as the Digital World, getting replaced by the once cyan skies of Mahora Academy.

"I'm back," the harem mage thought, taking a deep breath afterwards. After doing that, he pulled a gold pocketwatch out and gave it a quick glance. While it appeared to be an exact copy to Elena's, the phrase 'Aftoí oi desmoí filías tha mas synkratísoun' had been engraved on the inside of the lid. "Good. There's still time."

Two girls were running full speed towards a large marble building. The first girl was dressed in the 'typical' mahora uniform, which consisted of a red vest over a white t-shirt and a very short plaid skirt. Finishing off the look, was a pair of brown loafers that contrasted with her lime forest green hair and matching eyes.

The second girl was dressed in a dark green sundress with brown sandals. Unlike the first, her hair was colored some dark green color with a variety of dirt and plants hanging within it. Hanging on her side, was a long green vine with a sharp pointy rock at the end. Strangely, they were being given chase by a horde of shambling husks.

He made his way over to the girls, only to find himself right back at his starting position.

Aegiochusmon mumbled a few swears in Greek under his breath and watched the girls enter the building. He took a step forward, not getting teleported back this time. The harem mage took each step carefully, making sure not to go somewhere that would cause a random teleport back. Eventually, he reached the building and let out a sigh.

It was the library, Mahora's greatest source of knowledge and just plain weirdness. For example. if one were somehow able to make it through all the traps and potential illusions, they would find a dragon and possibly some ponies. And that was just one of many outcomes that could occur in this place. Aegiochusmon only gave a slight chuckle as he approached the door inside. Ironically, it was always the same fate. There would be a battle, followed by them getting trapped in there. Within those four walls, he had been tasked with protecting the students. And yet, he could only watch as the girls teared each other up until just two remained. The first, was Usagi Renja. Loosely translated, her named meant 'rabbit ranger'. More importantly, she had been the first 'complaints girl', whatever that meant.

Only mere hours before, she had 'appeared' in his classroom and just decided to whack one of his students a few dozen times on the head. She was then punished by someone (possibly the author) to be a part of this 'story'. He was quite sure how exactly this was a punishment, but hadn't really given that much thought when it happened. To some extent, he had wished he had.

The other student, Akira Okochi was a bit of a mystery to him. Unlike Usagi, she preferred to stick to the sidelines and mostly watch as her friends tear one another apart for their flesh and blood. Rarely did she ever fight, which always seemed odd to him. Her pactio, "Siren Valida", allowed her instantaneous travel via any source of water. This was possible, because magic. Even if it wasn't, it's always the easiest way to explain any sort of mysterious and/or supernatural tech one has to explain to their friends, family and/or any other interested party. Moving on from the formalities of magic, this allowed Akira to travel ridiculous distances without much effort. Not that the 'harem girl' really seemed into any of this, she was more of a swimmer than anything else. Not that it really mattered now. They would still be trapped there, with an unknown foe watching and possibly laughing at their stupidity.

Aegiochusmon only rolled his eyes. The inside of the library was same as always. Dusty yet mysterious, curious yet cautious. A place of both arcane knowledge and danger. He made his way past the cluttered shelves, using the same technique from outside. This time though, he now had to deal with all the trapped books and the other various booby traps designed to keep morons away from here. Not those things did any good in the face of what had happened.

An oversized half-moon axe swung towards him. Aegiochusmon stepped out of the way, slamming the swaying trap with a burst of Terra Archens. A beam of gravity-defying lava shot out, melting the metal pole holding the contraption together. He checked his pocket watch once again. While not really that certain, the harem mage calculated he was about five seconds slower than he was in his previous form. Not that he could change back, having chosen his fate so long ago. As Akira and Usagi fought, it quickly became apparent the difference of skill between the two girls. Akira was nowhere near Usagi's level and yet, she was still willing to take the interloper head on. In retrospect, he should've stopped them there when he had the chance.

It was here that their fates changed. As the two continued to fight, the room began to shake. While that was happening, weird black flashes began to interrupt the battle. And finally, a loud explosion rippled through the room, taking all three of them out. In a way that was where it all "ended" for the three. The fate of the two girls had been a bit of a mixed bag for him. He had known quite a bit where exactly to find Akira. Though, in what state she would be in was a mystery that he would have to solve himself. Usagi on the other hand, was still an unknown. After what had happened, he had heard nothing about her. Maybe that was for the better.

Aegiochusmon smiled. He was finally through all the traps, reaching the room where this whole mess had begun in. Strangely, Polly was waiting at the entrance. The monk looked the same as she normally did, but appeared to be tired and ready to be done with this.

"Ready, slut?" he inquired and his companion sighed. Even though the two had been together for at least two days, she had already grown tired of the aegiochusmon's insults. And as much as she wanted to punch in the face, it would probably result in one of them getting trapped in a wall. Nonetheless, the two headed forth, only find themselves to be the only ones in the room. "What is the meaning of this?!"

A few seconds later, a ball of light shot out from both the human and her digimon. The orb on the left reformed into a man, while the left one turned into a teenage girl. The man was dressed in a gray jumpsuit with matching sweat pants, complimented by his gray hair and matching eyes.

The girl on the other hand, was dressed in a mahora uniform that appeared to be an exact copy to the ones worn by the two students at the start of this chapter. Strangely, they could just make out her general appearance, only to watch it change right before their eyes. For some reason, this person cracked a cocky sort of smile and chuckled at them.

Aegiochusmon then grabbed hold of his partner, whispering the magical phrase as he kissed her. Right after doing just that, dark energy seemed to cocoon the monk and forced her partner to back away.

 **Polly dark infusion digivolve too... Sireniosmon!**

 _Scanning..._

 **Sireniosmon**

 **Infusion, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Watery Grave Blast, Seaside Tail Slap**

 **.**

 **Aegiochusmon: I fucked up, didn't I?**

 **Polly: Grrrr...**

 **Aegiochusmon: I'm sorry, Polly.**

 _Scan Complete._

In place of Polly, a large slime in the shape of a large sea seprent had taken her place. The head of the monster hovered a least a couple of feet above Aegiochusmon, with the rest of it's gooey serpent body coiled around her partner. Aegiochusmon took a deep breath and stepped out of the coils, only to receive snickering from the two spirits. He took a deep breath...

And then the screams came back to taunt him once more. He cowered to the ground, holding his head within his hands. It was all coming clear now. In a way, it had been him that had started this whole mess. He had chosen to let Usagi's sudden appearance slide, which started the whole domino chain leading up to this. And that wasn't counting all the stuff before it. But, that was a story for a much later point.

He stood up and gazed towards his partner, taking a another deep breath. Usually, she had a look of indifference, but now it was one of both anger and sadness. Yet, he didn't blame her.

Aegiochusmon ran over to Polly. The slime leviathan stared back at the harem mage, curious of what would be his next move. Her partner only sighed, wrapping his arms around the corrupted creature.

"I'm sorry about this, I really am. That might not mean much to you, but it's all I can give at the moment. Sometimes that's all it takes." he whispered, not at all noticing the tears falling down.

The energy from before seemed to dissipate from Polly, forcing the monk back into the human form. But for a second or two, Aegiochusmon thought he could see what appeared to be her infusion form in place of it. But, he chalked it up to just being tired.

"Thanks." the monk answered and gave her digimon partner a big hug in return. Loud rumbling erupted from within the room, causing the room to 'shatter' into a million pieces and take the spirits along with it. What remained appeared to be an unlit ballroom, it's walls decorated with a large mural. It wasn't anything special, just a group of characters taking on some other group. The group on the right were an interesting bunch, containing a group of hooded figures, some people nobody except the author likes, an airship and a bunch of other people the duo didn't recognize. They stared at it for a few minutes, but eventually moved on. Had they really wanted too, they could've taken a photo for their teammates. But they suspected whatever message was

They weren't that far from camp, just a couple of miles. Even then, that meant traversing thick jungle and the possibilities of It was there, the two caught up on old times. When they were finished hacking/punching at the forest, they made their way back to camp.

"What the fuck?"

The camp was an absolute mess. Their tents had been overturned and their bags had their contents thrown all about the area. A post now stood where the fire once burned, with some random person's corpse nailed to it. Laying around him, were the once again comatose bodies of their friends and digimon. One of them was possibly missing, but they didn't know which. They quickly made their way over to the bodies, finding one more surprise for them.

Let this be the only consequence of this mess and just let sleeping dogs lie. -Alice

* * *

Notes:

Out of all the chapters in DAO, this is a lot of people's favorites. As such, great care was taken to make sure that the feel of the original was still there, while making continuity improvements and a couple minor changes. As such I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

The translated engraving on the pocketwatch is 'These bonds of friendship will hold us together'.

.

Next Time: I see uncertainty. Lots and lots of uncertainty.


	17. Uncertainty

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 17

Uncertainty

An hour had passed since Polly and Aegiochusmon returned to their ruined camp. In that time, the group had gotten to work putting their ramshackle base back together. While not quite the same as it once was, it would serve its purpose for the moment.

"Care to explain to my slut and I what happened?" Aegiochusmon shouted and focused his gaze on Elena.

The gale corsair currently sat on the ground, cradling her head in her palms.

"I fucked up." she whispered as tears began to roll down her face. "I shouldn't have made that call."

Everyone in camp that wasn't Elena stared towards her, confused by what she was even talking about.

"What are you even talking about?" Lily inquired and watched her human sigh.

"If I hadn't made that phone call to Bob, we wouldn't be in this situation." Elena whispered, making her way towards her tent after speaking. Carinamon and Lily followed right behind, but made sure they weren't getting too much into their master's space.

"You didn't know." Joey answered and Elena stopped. "Sometimes, hindsight is 20-20."

He got no response, only for the gale corsair to reluctantly turn around.

"Then did I do the right thing?" Elena inquired as she sat herself down. "While Alice did lie to us, she probably had to have some reason for doing it."

Her teammates and their digimon looked among each other, possibly debating the exact same question in their head.

"If she did, she should've told us." Aaron remarked and got harsh gazes from both Polly and Aegiochusmon. "We could've handled it as a group."

"Says the guy who had a bunch of armed thugs ambush us." Polly shouted and took a step forward.

The detective took a deep breath and sighed.

"Yes, so that they and F- Aegiochusmon could talk it out like normal people."

Polly didn't listen, choosing instead to slam her fist into Aaron. The detective stood there, weathering the blow he probably deserved.

"Then you should've been more upfront about it." Aegiochusmon added as the other members of the team stared towards the trio. "Or at the very least, you could've hinted at it better."

Elena walked over and cleared her throat, gazing at both the detective and the harem mage.

"Care to explain what may have transpired?"

Silence fell upon both men, with neither willing to swallow their pride in that very moment.

"Care to tell me, Polly?"

Polly took a deep breath and sighed. While it probably wouldn't be a good idea to give the corsair the entire story, she probably needed to know at least what happened.

"Aaron called in some of his 'friends' who had a bone to pick with Aegiochusmon." the monk whispered and turned her attention to Elena. "They drove up, grabbed Aegiochusmon, I went crazy and blacked out. When I woke up, I found myself in some castle. Afterwards, we walked back to camp and found it ruined."

Elena gave her a quick glance, only to shift it to back to Aaron and Aegiochusmon.

"If you had just told us about this, we could have settled this peacefully." the gale corsair shouted, only to get both a potion vial along with a burst of terra archens directed towards her. Like the punch though, she took both attacks head-on. "Thanks."

Both Aaron and Aegiochusmon stared to the girl, unsure of how to answer.

"Your welcome?" both answered as Elena smiled, taking one more deep breath in the process.

"All in favor of finding Alice and getting answers, say 'Aye'." the gale corsair explained and held her hand up. "Aye."

The other members looked towards their 'leader', unsure of what had gotten into her. Yet, they were willing to go along with it for the moment. If nothing else, they could just step up as leader should something go wrong.

"Aye."

"Aye."

"Aye."

'It's settled then." Elena whispered and turned her gaze to her teammates. "Now, let's get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow."

With that, the other members of the group and their digimon followed suit, leaving just the gale corsair and both of her partners to their own devices.

"Are you alright, Elena?" Lily inquired as she watched her human sit down by the fire.

"No, I'm not."

The gale corsair took another deep breath, allowing the smoke and ash into her body. For as confident as she had felt a couple seconds ago, all that seemed to remain was sadness. She pulled her phone out, staring through the short list of contacts contained within. Most of them were staff of Drogaciji Academy, for the times when things went horribly wrong. After that, were a couple of 'friends' from her very short time at school. Though, she wasn't quite sure if she considered them that way. They were more like acquaintances than anything else. This left one final number in the list. Alice's.

Elena had gotten it during the bus ride to Drogaciji Academy, having asked the gambler nicely for it. Unusually, Alice was more than happy to give it, in exchange for her number. She tried to do the same with Joey, but he was occupied with talking with Aegiochusmon over something.

What followed, was a single tap followed by a dial tone. Then silence, as if the person on the other end was debating whether or not they would pick up. And finally, nothing.

"The person you called could not be reached at the moment. Please leave a message after the beep." the 'operator' explained and Elena sighed, waiting for the magical beep that would let say what she had meant to say hours before.

"Alice, it's me. I didn't intend for this to go the way that it did. All I ask is for you come back and tell why you lied. I don't care if you're Alice Zwingli, Suiko Tanaka or whatever your real name possibly is. That doesn't matter to me in the slightest. I just want you to come back..."

The gale corsair hung up after that, blowing the fire out and making her way back to the tent. Carinamon and Lily followed right behind, making sure to give their chosen a bit of distance for the moment. Afterwards, they allowed the calming embrace of sleep to take them in.

* * *

.

"Is that it?" A voice announced, turning to face the group of figures that were with him.

The person in question was a teenage boy, dressed in a white t-shirt with brown jeans and a pair of loafers. His brown hair was cut short, complimenting his green eyes. The rest of the group were an odd bunch. They consisted of a void mage, some kitsune hybrid digimon, a guy with some anger issues, a pokemon fan and himself, Nora Karnoc. Even their digimon were a weird bunch. It was like a variety pack of trading cards, including: A poisonous turtle, a guilimon rip-off, some magical girl thing obsessed with sex, just to name a few. And yet, they were united under one goal. It was a simple one, but that was all they had really needed on their journey.

"Yep." the void mage remarked, taking a quick glance away from her map. In the distance, one could see faint outline of a seventh figure, a teenage girl. Why she was heading away from her 'teammates' wasn't quite known. Possibly, she was following a hunch she had. Or, she wanted to take her own path without interference.

Whatever the reason possibly was, her teammates didn't seem to notice her absence. Possibly, it was for the better. But who could really know in this place.

"Wonderful." one of the members added and stopped, taking their time to set camp for the night. Tomorrow would be their magical day. Maybe then, some sort of answers could be found. Even if it meant having to beat their opponents apart in the process...

* * *

Notes:

This is the third time that I've rewritten this chapter. Personally, I prefer this version. Especially since the previous version had stuff that I forgot about and hadn't corrected.

.

Next chapter: A battle of two SYOC Teams, Alpha vs Elena's Group!


	18. Decieved

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 18

Deceived

The dark shadows of night quickly passed, revealing the bright glow of the day and gifting upon its denizens a beautiful sunlight. Considering the life expectancy of most of these characters wasn't that spectacular, it was a sight treasured each time it happened.

"What a wonderful sight." Elena thought as she rubbed her weary eyes. The drogaciji student usually preferred to sleep in, but had decided to get up early to change things up.

"Yes, my sweet." Lily answered and climbed up onto her master's head. Their fellow teammates and gathered around them, staring at the magnificent sight.

 **Boom: Spear!**

A loud explosion then rang out behind them, turning their fire pit into a raging inferno for a couple of seconds. Somehow, it didn't set their entire camp on fire.

The still unnamed group then turned around, finding a second group standing before them. It wasn't that huge a group, consisting of four humans and a whole bunch of digimon.

"Who the fuck are you people?" Tsukaimon whispered, only for a blue lynx clad in black armor to approach the pig.

"We are Alpha." the digimon remarked, only for Elena to pull out her kris. "We have gotten word that you have our bird. As such, we would like it back."

They just stood there, waiting for somebody to make a possible remark or ask a question to break the silence.

"What bird?" Elena inquired and charged towards the opponent. The corsair then proceeded to slam her blades into the lynx, receiving a few blasts of blue lightning to the face.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena shifted to her hybrid form, stabbing her tail into the digimon's body. Afterwards, she reverted back and delivered one final stab to the beast.

While she did that, Polly was just about to take on some sort of kitsune fighter sue character.

 **Polly infusion digivolve too... Aquiosmon!**

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

The slime monk slammed her fist into the opponent, who responded with some martial art move Polly hadn't seen before. It resembled a crane kick, but she was pretty sure a crane kick didn't turn one into an aquiosmon.

 **Seaside Throw!**

Polly slid to the right, easily anticipating her doppelganger's attack. She then made a quick glance over around the area, making sure

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly unleashed a flurry of punches, and knocked her target up into the air. The monk then jumped up into the air and grabbed hold of their imposter, flinging

The "aquiosmon" then reformed, reverting to some Japanese teenage girl waving one of those little white lags.

 **Fox Leaf Arrowheads!**

A scattered group of razor leaves shot towards them, only to be suddenly be coated with a pink substance as they reached Polly.

"Aww..." Aaron whispered and got a condescending gaze from Cutemon.

The detective's gaze immediately then focused on some bushes. There, some plain-looking boy was attempting to cosplay as a bug catcher from Pokemon. Adding to this 'look', was a dragon butterfly and a yellow porcupine thing. Strangely, he was giving the two orders based on pokemon moves instead of their actual moves. The two watched for a few more seconds.

He then lobbed the vial at the trio, causing weird purple spirits to grab onto their opponents and pull them down.

As those finished them off, Lily, Carinamon and Elena were shooting off their attack at their current opponent. Which, was some girl dressed in a pink sundress and green galoshes decorated with roses. Pink flower petals were growing out of her head, contrasting with her black orbs she used as eyes.

 **Flower Cannon!**

A ball of yellow energy slammed into the duo, knocking them up into the air and onto Elena's back. Currently, she was just flying around while attempting to avoid projectiles.

 **Memory Spirits!**

Elena then opened her mouth, shooting out a pair of transparent birds towards the winged flower thing.

 **Gale Sting!**

A gust of wind then shot out of Carinamon's tail as Lily fired a couple of arrows off that direction. Add in Elena's attack, it was more than enough to take flower lady out of this mess.

 **Radiating Thunder!**

The celebration was short-lived, though. A burst of lightning struck the trio and were knocked to the ground.

 **Πυλώνας του Άδη (Pillar of Hades)!**

A large sandstone pillar shot out from the ground in front of Aegiochusmon, flattening the kitsune enemy from before while getting the attention of the now large green lynx

 **Radiating Charge!**

The digimon charged towards Aegiochusmon as green lightning began to spark around him.

 **Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!**

A stream of lava shot out of harem mage's hands and into the lynx's mouth. The electricity surrounding him dissipated and the digimon reverted back to his original blue and black appearance. After the lava, a black knuckle-shaped projectile knocked him over. Aegiochusmon gave the helper a slight glare, freaking out Joey a tiny bit. Even then, it did prevent Tsukaimon from asking for some tea and biscuits. However, the two were currently taking on a holy turtle and a toxic angel.

 **Holy Spray!**

The scientist ducked, only to freeze in place.

He was back there again. Unlike before, no ungodly horrors awaited the exact location of "there" weren't really something Joey could discern, but one thing was certain in his mind. Somehow, the turtle, the angel and their human master held a connection to him. Of what, the scientist was uncertain of. But for now, he

A few seconds passed and Joey was returned to reality. The scientist took a few deep breathes and picked his staff up.

 **Sacrifice!**

Pain surged through his body, only for it to quickly cleansed by the mending pulses within him.

 **Shadow Neko Wraith!**

Two cat claws materialized in front of the scientist, which immediately went for the holy turtle. What followed, were the claws attempting to play patty cake with the turtle as collateral damage.

 **Toxin Blade!**

The poisonous angel flew over to him, a mysterious green blade in hand. She immediately slammed the blade into Joey's staff, only for it to be knocked away. He then proceeded to knock her to the ground and slammed his weapon into her a couple times in retaliation. Mostly to make sure she didn't attempt a counterattack.

 **Frost: Bird!**

A whitish blue bird-shaped projectile slammed into the scientist, along with some flame lion thing that was on Alpha's side.

Elena's gaze then hyper focused on her opponent, who appeared to be another teenage girl. Unlike the other ones, she was dressed in a sparkly cobalt armor dress with matching sandal heels. A gladius was held in her left hand, glowing with reddish orange energy. In her right hand was a video camera. Once she was close enough, the witchmon rip-off dropped both of those objects and grabbed onto its target, her.

 **Gale Strike!**

The corsair knocked the mage away and proceeded to give her opponent a flurry of slashes and stabs.

 **Electro Terror Berserker Fang!**

A greenish yellow fang-shaped projectile then slammed into the ground, knocking the group up into the air. Their gazes focused upon some large black dragon with red wings and a green digital hazard logo, who was definitely the one behind it. Its master was stacked on top, looking down at them. Smiles formed on the face of it's opponents, ready to take the duo down. They charged towards them, their best attacks at the ready. What followed, was a game of cat and mouse, culminating in a massive combo attack with everyone involved. When the dust settled, they were victorious. And yet, something felt off.

"Are you so sure?" a voice remarked as a slow clap echoed throughout the area. "You still have me to face."

 **BlackGatomon infusion digivolve too... Selenemon!**

 _Scanning..._

 **Selenemon**

 **Super Ultimate, Infusion**

 **Special Moves: Blazing Moon, Butterfly Rain**

 **.**

 **Unknown: Surprise! You weren't expecting me at all, did you?**

 _Scan Complete._

The group just stood there. They reminisced on their prior battles, each one of them felt exhausted and ready to just give up and quit. And yet, something clicked inside of Elena. Maybe it was all their prior defeats. Or, it could have been their determination to complete this battle. If she had to, she would finish this.

"Bring it on." The corsair announced and charged towards the super ultimate. Lily and Carinamon followed right behind, ready to take this seemingly impossible challenge on.

 **Butterfly Rain!**

Knives rained down upon the trio, not that even that would stop their charge. No, it only seemed to invigorate them, each one of them ready to take this opponent on. It was then that Elena's pocketwatch glowed and began to tick once more. Two beams of light engulfed her partners as the opponent watched on.

 **Carinamon infusion digivolve too... Adarnamon!**

 **Lily infusion digivolve too... Korawamon!**

In the place of Carinamon, stood a small red bird, standing at about the same height as a biyomon during the adventure era. Unlike a biyomon, it was much thinner and had a long feathery tail that seemed to change colors.

In Lily's place, stood a humanoid slightly taller than Adarnamon, yet appeared a lot more built than the bird. She was draped in white kimono and bamboo kimono sandals. Her hair had been tied up in a geisha bun, yet her wings and tails were still visible.

 _Scanning..._

 **Adarnamon**

 **Champion, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Whirlwind Sting, Beautiful Gaze, Seven Song**

 **.**

 **Elena: And then the weirdness kicks in.**

 **Korawamon**

 **Champion, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Yumi Barrage & Incense Burn**

 **.**

 **Lily: Much better. Now, to get my true form back...**

 **Adarnamon: And what would that be?**

 **Lily: It's a secret to everyone.**

 _Scan Complete._

Their opponent only rolled her eyes.

 **Blazing Moon!**

A purple fireball shot out of the hybrid's hands, only for Elena to block it with her kris.

 **Incense Burn!**

Red smoke began to fill the area, invigorating their allies and accomplished nothing for their opponent.

"Let's do this." Elena whispered, only for everyone to finally face their opponent.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

A large twister of wind and poison slammed into their opponent.

 **Yumi Barrage!**

Lily shot off a barrage of arrows, watching the projectiles enter the tornado.

 **Dark Bubble!**

A large black bubble shot out of Tsukaimon's mouth, adding to the mass amount of projectiles in the whirlwind.

 **Shadow Neko Wraith!**

The two cat claws once again shot out, proceeding to bat their opponent around.

 **Blazing Earth!**

A stream of lava sneaked itself in, setting all the previous projectiles on fire.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly slammed her fists into the twister, forcing it to spin around. Finally, Aaron lobbed a few vials of some sort of liquid into their masterpiece. The whirlwind then fell over, leaving one very disoriented opponent. They had done some damage, which one could consider a major achievement considering who they were fighting.

Elena made a quick glance down at her pocketwatch. The plain front of the device was gone, with a purple dragon bird now curved around it. She carefully slipped the device back into her pocket, only for her gaze to focus on the people they had just defeated. While it was their own idiotic faults for landing on the ground but, Elena's group reluctantly dragged them to the side. The only one they didn't do that for was last opponent, who was still very conscious. They then headed off, ready to start their search for Alice.

* * *

Notes:

A bit cleaner and refined chapter.

.

Next Time: In which things go very horribly wrong...


	19. Blood-stained hands

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 19

Blood-stained hands

Alice took a deep breath.

The smooth sands of the deserts were long gone now, having been replaced with the grey expressionless halls of this 'unnamed' place. Even the floor was just as unimpressed, with the architect having gone with whitish cream colored tiles. Even if the name had been given, I doubt you would even remember it.

She had never intended for things to go this way, having hoped to keep the truth of her identity a secret much longer. But with Elena discovering the 'truth', all the gambler wanted to do now was to break away.

"Ugh..." she whispered and took a deep breath afterwards. For right now, she would just have to push Elena to the back of her mind and focus on the task at hand.

*We both know the truth.* Suiko responded, only for her host to groan. *Let's just go back and apologize to Elena.*

"Shut up!"

As she said that though, a figure walked towards them. It was a teenage girl, possibly around the same age as her. She was dressed in a navy blue and white striped shirt with a pair of dungarees. Two electric blue stared confidentially towards Alice, seeming to add to the dark brown hair style in a fringe. Finishing off the look was a baseball bat, with the autograph 'Kyoko Kirigiri' written on the side in blue ink.

"Uh... Who are you?" Alice inquired, only for the girl to shush her for some reason. "Hey!"

"I'm Maxie." the girl answered and motioned for the gambler to follow. Yet, Alice just stood there, not quite sure if she could trust Maxie. Not that one could really blame her, especially with the series of event that had occurred the day before. "You can trust me, I'm a friend."

*Sure.*

Maxie suddenly focused her gaze back on Alice, attempting to find the source of the other voice. Once she was certain that it somehow couldn't be found, the 'friend' headed off.

Compared to a place such as St Velodias or Drogaciji Academy, this place seemed normal. The hallways were quite clean, with the walls looking to have a little wear and tear to them. But at the same time, there wasn't something off. Neither girl had really seen any inhabitants or any actual sign of life. It was entirely possible that

*Maybe they don't want anything to do with us?*

"I doubt it." Alice thought and continued to gaze all around the hallway. There, she could just make out a shadow. While normally, she wouldn't pay much attention to such an occurrence, something about it seemed off. Maybe it was the shape, looking too thin to be that of a human. But at the same time, it was moving too much to be a stationary background object. That, and the author was bringing it up

"Oh my." the 'shadow' announced, only to follow it up with a snapping sound. "It seems that we have visitors."

The 'shadow' then charged towards them, bringing with it an end to any sense of 'normal' that could have existed in this place. Their pursuer was some sort of reanimated schoolgirl with a matching cat creature. A pair of scissors swung around in each hand, threatening to tear either girl into a million itty-bitty pieces.

"Bring it, bitch." Maxie shouted and swung her bat towards the opponent, watching it knock this unnamed person back a couple feet. "You are nothing, monster!"

While Maxie continued to taunt their opponent, Alice reached for her guns. While she was uncertain of Maxie's ability to take this person on, it didn't hurt to be prepared.

"Hah!"

The gambler made a glance to her left, finding Maxie now standing over the schoolgirl. She then proceeded to bash the person's head in, each swing seeming to come faster as the weapon made contact each time. It was only when the gambler reluctantly walked over and placed a hand on Maxie did this lunatic actually think about stopping. Even then, she threw in a couple of extra strikes in just in case.

"That should do it." Maxie remarked, only to find Alice glaring right at her. "What now?"

"Leave." Alice snarled and managed to pull her pistols out. "I'm more than willing to pull the trigger and leave your brains littered across this hallway."

For such a bold claim, all she got was laughter.

"I would like to see you try." Maxie remarked and watched the gambler slowly lower her guns back down. "Just as I thought."

With that, the two reluctantly continued down the hallway until it emptied out into the cafeteria. Like the hallway before it, it had gone with the grey walls and whitish cream tiles. A line of students had gathered in the back, all dressed up for some reason. Like the girl from before, they all had some sort of creature with them. They were probably mostly digimon, with a couple of transformed students thrown in as well.

*Okay...* Suiko whispered, only to get ignored. *Let's no do anyth-*

Before she could finish her sentence, Maxie charged forth and flung her bat into the crowd. Afterwards, 'the friend' headed back the way she came. Or would have, if a black and white teddy bear hadn't suddenly appeared in front of the exit.

"Upupupupupupu!"

Both girls gazed all about the room, attempting to find the source of the voice. Eventually, their gazes locked on the bear by the door. Strangely, the students Maxie had attacked were doing the same.

"Why hello there." the bear whispered, something coming to it. "Despair High is property of the order. Unruly trespassers are subject to the harshest puni-."

Before the "creature" could finish it's sentence, Maxie slammed her bat into the bear repeatedly, not even taking the time to stop and maybe consider just how bad of an idea this was.

 **Initiating** **Execution: "Circus of Despair"**

After the announcement, a chain-link fence shot up in front of Alice, giving her and Suiko front row seats for this mess.

At first, cardboard cut-outs of balloons began to 'float' up to the ceiling. Following this, a large red and yellow circus tent cut-out sprang up behind it's unsuspecting victim. Following the tent, were a barrage of small toy cars one would trip over in the dark. The vehicles immediately, stopped only for more bears to step out. Unlike the one Maxie had just killed, these ones were dressed like the members of the lucky ones. More and more of them began to pop out of the cars, armed with bowling pins and torches. Those with the pins started to juggle their objects around as the other ones began to light said projectiles aflame.

Yet, Alice pulled one of her pistols out and fired, reluctantly watching the shot pierce through Maxie's skull.

"I'm sorry." the gambler whispered and took a deep breath. Inside, she could just barely hear Suiko berating her for doing this. She didn't blame her doing just that. Yet, it was a necessary risk in order to continue on their journey. If she hadn't, that girl would have hung around and possibly killed someone.

 **Hellfire Blast!**

A shotgun ran out, forcing her to duck under the incoming pellets.

"Crud, I missed." a voice remarked, only for a digimon similar Astamon to run up. Unlike her's, this one was wearing a brown duster over his suit and was shooting off shotgun shells from its tommy gun. Strangely, he was with a whole bunch of people in costumes who were also armed with weapons.

"I am not your enemy." Alice whispered and turned her attention to the group of people. "I just want to get to the armory and that's it."

"Liar!" someone shouted and motioned for the group to charge towards her. Yet, Alice made her way out of the cafeteria and down the hall, not even giving them a second thought. Maybe, she hoped that they would find someone else to terrorize.

"There you are." a voice announced and the gambler turned around, finding the 'bear' from before just sitting there. "You're one of their children, aren't you?"

"What are you even talking about?" the gambler accused and watched the bear suddenly turn into a cloud of black mist.

"I am Despair, a friend of your 'parents'." Despair explained as it floated over to Alice. "Though, I'll keep hush on your visit to my domain."

*Okay...* Suiko whispered as Alice's gaze focused in on the cloud.

"You can enter the armory on one condition."

"And what would that be?" Alice whispered as Despair floated back a foot or two.

"You and your 'sister' come visit little old me and my high school at a future date." the cloud explained. "The reason for the visit does not matter, for I suspect you'll find some purpose in coming back at a later date."

"You have a deal." the gambler announced as Despair suddenly teleported down the hall. At the moment, this sort of deal was a win-win. Even if neither girl was sure why they would even want to come back.

The armory stood in absolute silence as the 'duo' approached. Inside, it was just as plain, lacking any sort of defining feature when compared with the rest of the building. Alice didn't take much, just grabbing some ammo along with a scroll tied up with a piece of twine. But as she touched it, a shock of some sort ran through her body. Yet, it felt comforting for some reason.

*Sure...* Suiko added as something caught her eye. It was a double-barreled shotgun, that for some reason she could grab hold of. If nothing else, she could use on the off-chance someone wanted to kill her. Not that anyone really payed enough attention for that actually happen.

With that, Alice made her way out of the armory, but not before giving once last look over. Something about it seemed off within this place, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly yet.

But for now, that could wait. After all, she needed to get out of here and as far away from her former teammates as possible. Hopefully, they hadn't quite caught up her yet.

And so, Alice headed towards the exit, feeling another shock. This time though, everything went blurry as gunfire filled the air. Just as she was about to black out, the gambler saw herself and Maxie heading further.

*Ugh..." Suiko mumbled as Alice pulled herself up, making a quick glance behind her. Strangely, she turned back around and headed out, quite disgusted by what they saw within here...

* * *

Notes:

Some days, you can't run from fate. Try as you might, some things are set in stone.

This is probably the most radically changed chapter, from one of intense bloodshed to that of a possible one. Personally, I prefer this version over the original. Especially that part at the end...

.

Next Time: A turkey, a jackal and more casualities, oh my...


	20. For Hire

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 20

For Hire

Alice took a deep breath.

Something felt different now that she had exited the building known as 'Despair High'. Her mind was a complete mess, as if someone wanted to see her suffer for no particular reason.

*Ugh...* Suiko mumbled and attempted to keep her focus on whatever Alice was gazing at. *Can we please go back and just apologize to them?*

The gambler did not answer, choosing instead to focus on other things. Things such as Elena Yuliana. In her book, such an idiot was nothing more than useless dead weight in her world. Yet, this 'dead weight' had managed to become quite a thorn in anything Alice wished to accomplish in the future. Yet, somehow she had managed to slip through Alice Zwingli's defenses for what? The gale corsair didn't seem interested in things like money or power, having chosen to save the gambler after she had mutated into that... 'thing'.

*Maybe she just wants to be your friend?* Suiko suggested and got silence from Alice. She had hoped that the gambler would have to listened to her proposal, maybe even give it some thought. If nothing else, actually acknowledge it as a slim possibility. But for the moment, that would not be the case.

"Maybe a submerged complex." Alice remarked as she headed away from Despair High and towards the edge of the clearing.

"There you are, young lady!"

Alice then turned around, finding a turkey dressed in a gray pinstripe suit and a matching tiny fedora standing before her. A tommy gun hung at his side, ready to be used for the purpose of mowing down anyone their potential employer needed to be brought down a notch.

"Uh... Who even are you and what do you want with me?" Alice shouted as Astamon ran up to her in a huff. "What is it, Astamon?"

The jackal gangster took a deep breath and quietly pulled his tommy gun out, more than ready to reduce this curious fowl into nothing than mincemeat.

"Hello there." the turkey explained and gave Alice a bow. "I am a mercenary for hire and I had heard you needed help getting away from some people who might know your secret. I believe my services could be of great benefit to you, boss."

After saying that, he took a deep breath and focused his gaze on the gambler. Alice did the same, but made sure to have her pistols ready in case things went wrong. Well, she thought that she did, having gripped the scroll that she had grabbed in the previous chapter in her right hand.

*What's you name, Mr Mercenary?* Suiko inquired as she imitated her 'host'.

"Gobblemon." the turkey announced and gave another bow. "One of Bonessa's finest gunmen."

Astamon then turned his attention back to the turkey and holstered his gun. While he wasn't quite sure whether or not this turkey could be trusted, he would leave that judgement up to Alice and 'Suiko'.

"Who put you up to this?" the gambler accused and pulled her pistols out, not even realizing that she was still holding the scroll. "If you don't tell me, I will fill your face with lead."

Gobblemon laughed and pulled his tommy gun up.

"So that's how were going to decide this then?" Gobblemon answered and sighed. "I was hoping that this time would be last go around for me, but I guess that's not the case."

 **Spiritflare!**

Alice fired off her left pistol, watching the bullet head towards it supposed target and fly right over it. Strangely, this was followed up by a shotgun blast to Gobblemon's back. While an impressive technique, it was one that would need some work.

"Miss Alice, would you care to explain what just happened?" Astamon asked and got a confused expression from his master, who was now holding a pile of paper fragments in her right hand.

*Could you have given me a warning beforehand?* Suiko added as a loud 'plosh' came out of her mouth. *Sorry about that.*

"Wonderful." Alice thought and took a deep breath afterwards. So far, all they had seemed to do was waste precious time that they didn't really have at the moment. She had to hoped to be back on the road by now, but her luck at the moment didn't want to cooperate with her. Adding to her frustrations, was the sudden introduction of a swishing sound to the normally quiet woods. "Great. Just when I thought the distractions would finally stop.

The gambler took another deep breath, only for the swishing to increase in intensity.

"Why hello there." a voice called out and was followed by a pair of scissors thrown in their general direction.

"Come out!" she shouted, only for laughter to fill the air. "We are armed and more than ready to shoot!"

"Really now? I doubt bullets would do much to me." the voice answered and a girl exited the bushes. On much closer inspection, she appeared to be a rotting body dressed in a shredded sailor fuku with a long skirt that had seen better days. A pair of empty sockets staring towards them while all its limbs looked ready to fall to the ground and be left behind. "You've already brought an entire cast of characters from the high peaks of hope to a despairing death. Do you really think that someone as engulfed in misery and despair as you can take me down?"

The four gave her a mix of confusion and shock. While they weren't quite expecting that their first 'battle' would be against a pile of decaying flesh and bone, it would work for the moment.

"Sure." Alice remarked and grabbed her right pistol, letting what remained of the scroll to fall to the ground. "You're just another obstacle in my path to get away."

Their opponent gave her a confused glance, unsure of how to really respond to that.

"You will pay for what you did!" the corpse announced and charged towards them.

 **Gobble Grenade!**

Gobblemon flung a tin can filled with something towards their opponent. For some reason, this was an invitation for the target to act like a dog and bite down into the device.

 **Hellfire!**

After watching the corpse attempt to swallow the explosive device for some reason, Astamon fired off a short burst from his tommy gun. Somehow, the bullets managed to connect with the grenade without actually setting it off.

 **Spiritflare!**

As such, Alice took a shot at blowing this 'thing' up. This time, her bullet managed to whiz right pass the target. Only for the shotgun blast to actually set the explosive off. Even though it should have rendered the grenade inert somehow and allowed for their target to swallow for whatever health benefits it could possibly grant them.

"Stop this at once!"

The group turned around, watching a knife head in their general direction. For some reason, the projectile had been thrown at their feet.

 **Spiritflare!**

Not wasting any time, Alice fired off her special once more in the general direction of the voice and watched both parts of the attack seemingly miss. Yet, the group heard at least one person possibly fall over as a bird flew away.

"I guessing I'm hired?" Gobblemon whispered and Alice gave a nod. "Pleasure doing business with you this time, Miss Alice and Suiko."

With that, they headed off. But not before looting their supposed victim of his tome...

* * *

Notes:

Not that bad of a rewrite, though the stress caused by work didn't help. Oh well.

.

Next Time: A funny thing happened between two birds and a jester...


	21. Oh, the places you'll go

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 21

Oh, The places you'll go

For Elena and company, things were starting to looking up.

They currently sat at the edge of the desert, with their former camp just a tiny speck in the distance. The coast was just a short distance away, ferrying everyone towards a distant island.

"Stupid rabbit." Lily remarked and pointed her yumi towards Cutemon. "For the last time, stop glaring at me!"

Cutemon didn't answer. Instead, he was more focused on the path ahead than the pissed off succubus plush.

"For the last time, Lily." Elena remarked and stopped herself in front of her partner. "Cutemon is not staring at you."

"He totally is!" Lily shouted and fired her bow off, watching the arrow make its way toward the pink rabbit...

Only for the projectile to be snatched out of the sky by what appeared to be a large avian creature with the head of a human female. A streak of rainbow colored feathers went all the way down its back and into a short tail plume.

"Uh... hi?" Elena greeted and sat down, holding her hand out in the process. "I'm Elena Yuliana. What's your name?"

"SQUAWK!" the bird answered and let forth a near ear-shattering scream for some reason, knocking most of the group back into the desert. It also threw in a sense of deja vu and clarity. As if they could remember stuff that had been long buried in their minds.

"Did that bird have to do that?" Joey remarked and pulled his staff out. He then decided that the best option in this situation was to charge right at the creature. But all this really caused was the shadow scientist getting launched back. "Ow."

He closed his eyes, only to be overloaded by a variety of exotic sounds and smells. A couple of them seemed familiar to the shadow scientist, such as the heavy scents of gasoline and oil, complementing the banging of metal against metal. Yet, there was some sort of mechanical sound mixed in. But as quickly as it had sounded off, it had disappeared.

"Dad?" the shadow scientist whispered and closed his eyes. He then concentrated, attempting to remember what the man even looked like.

Once Joey had done his part, Aegiochusmon got up and slowly approached the creature.

"Grr..." the bird growled and went for the harem mage's fingers.

 **Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!**

A stream of lava then shot out of his hands and knocked the bird back.

"SQUAWK!"

Once more, another scream was brought forth and knocked the harem mage to the rest of his teammates.

"Mahora. Mahora." Aegiochusmon whispered and closed his eyes. Gone was the warm sands of the desert, having been replaced by a scattered cluster of red brick buildings. Yet, his gaze focused on a small shed. It was probably being used to store a variety of gardener tools. "Why are you showing me this? There is only death and regrets here."

But all he got was a faint mechanical 'whirring' sound.

"Chacha?" the harem mage whispered and watched his vision begin to twist and contort, bringing him back to the sandy desert. "Wonderful."

His teammates gave him a confused glance, but he didn't care at the moment. He and Polly would have to go back and face their demons, for better or for worse.

"My turn." Aaron whispered as he casually threw a potion vial up into the air, watching the contents explode upon him. Once that was done, the detective slowly made his way over to the bird. Unlike Aegiochusmon though, Aaron decided that violence wouldn't really help them at this particular moment. "Is there something we can help you with?"

The bird gave him a confused glance and focused in on Elena.

"You want her?"

All he got was a low squawk.

"Fine then." the detective whispered and walked over to the group. "You're up, Elena."

Elena took a deep breath, turning her attention to the bird. While she wasn't quite sure what this creature wanted with her, she was up for anything.

"Hello again." the gale corsair whispered as she shifted to her infusion form. "Have we met before?"

"Squawk." the bird responded and screeched at Elena, only to find she hadn't budged. "Squawk... chirp squawk caw?"

"Daughter?" Elena asked as she gave the bird a confused stare. "While I don't exactly know who my parents are, could you care to elaborate?"

The bird let out a low caw, but gave a nod afterwards...

.

Our story begins a couple of months ago in Tokyo.

More specifically, a small park near Tokyo Tower. There a whole bunch of people gathered together in order to team up. But not this particular group of people. They were a ragtag group of people, with a different mission in mind. In this case, it was gathering up those people.

"Let's get this over with." the bird's master, some asshole of a boy announced as he turned his attention to his reanimated girlfriend. "Alkonost, come forth from the void!"

And with that, the large bird appeared.

"Squawk." she had chirped, ready for whatever stupid request her master would assign today.

"We might need your help with carrying some of the bodies." her master explained as he gazed down at the bird. "Do you think you're up for that."

She gave a squawk, which the boy had taken as a 'yes' for some reason. She never was quite how or why they had been partnered up to each other in the first place. Not that it mattered in her book.

What followed next was a bit of blur. The bird clearly remembered flying off in search of people, but had ignored any that might have been 'sleeping' at the time. No, her attention had been focused on something else.

That something else turned out to be a large rubber bird just laying in the shade. When their gazes met, it was love at first sight. Of course, with love sometimes comes questionable decisions that one makes in the moment.

In this particular instance, a heartfelt talk about the weather and their respective life stories had given way to bird sex somehow. Looking back, it hadn't been the best choice the bird had made. Well, outside of getting bound to a magical book and being forced to be some asshole's summon.

"Uh... I think Alkonost found something." the asshole's girlfriend announced as the two approached them.

"Squawk." she had whispered and got a low growl, which the asshole had interpreted as a sign of a struggle that needed his involvement.

"I'm sorry." he whispered, with not a hint of sorrow or regrets. They only watched as the tome in his hands turned into a long spear. If she had wanted too, she could have chosen to betray her master for the sake of their children. Yet, all that would've have resulted from that was a quick but painful death. So the bird watched on as her partner was repeatedly stabbed with a sword on a long stick. As that all went on, the bird chose to return to the book as asshole's girlfriend found the egg. "We'll leave the egg."

"No!" the girlfriend responded and grabbed hold of the asshole. "We'll take the egg with us."

"Fine."

Reluctantly, the asshole scooped the egg and the two made their way towards the bus. There, they dropped their 'bundle of joy' off and got back to work. Which somehow led to them getting their asses kicked and a troll in a police uniform having a hand get put down his throat in pursuit of a pudding cup. Which was an actual thing that happened that neither party could get out of their memories for quite some time...

.

"So let me get this straight..." Elena whispered and took a deep breath. While she didn't want to her offend her potential mother, the gale corsair wasn't quite convinced. "So you're saying that your my mom and that my birth is a result of a fling you had with a large bird... Who my stepdad then killed for some reason."

After saying that, one of those congratulatory buzzers you hear on afternoon game shows rang as Jestery appeared.

"You win, Elena!" the jester announced as Elena gave her a cautious glance. "Not that there was any prize to be given out in the first place."

"Then how did the egg come out?" Elena asked, only for Jestery to give her a confused glance.

"It just does."

With that, Jestery teleported away and the gale corsair gave her possible mother a wave. Seconds later, she faded away and left her to her own devices.

"Let's get this show on the road." she remarked and motioned for her teammates to follow.

* * *

Notes:

This rewrite took far longer than it should've. But, I think I prefer this over the original. If nothing else, it's already covered nearly everything that Rantha and Hilda had done.

.

Next Time: A showdown on the sands.


	22. Confrontation

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 22

Confrontation

The walk to the coast passed quickly for Elena and company.

It was mostly spent in silence, with some of the party thinking over what they had learned just minutes before. As they did that, the rest of them chose to keep watch and potentially scout this area. Compared to the forest outskirts, the coast seemed more like a retread of the desert. It was the same wide open area with just some dunes pasted in as an attempt at variety. Out in the distance, one could just barely make out a long forgotten protagonist 'talking' to something. Even if said conversation amounted to nothing in the grand scheme of things.

"Then why are you pointing that out then?" Tsukaimon inquired as a gunshot rang out in the distance and forced the group to duck down. "Wonderful. I'm guessing it's not a ship full of tea then?"

Joey gave his partner a quick glance and sighed. While he didn't blame the purple pig for wanting a cup of earl gray, now probably wasn't the best time to bring it up.

"It appears that you people don't seem to know when to give up." a voice announced and Alice appeared from behind a sand dune. "I just want to be left alone. How hard is that to get it through your skulls?!"

Silence fell upon the group, with everyone staring towards Elena for guidance on this.

"We just want to know why you're running from us." Elena whispered and took a deep breath, staring towards the gambler. "Is that too much to ask of you?"

A scowl formed on Alice's face as she focused her guns on Elena.

"Die."

The gambler fired her guns off and watched the bullets shoot out, letting out a laugh afterwards. Everyone that wasn't Elena focused in on her, possibly attempting to understand why she was even going through with this. Yet, they doubted the answer they could potentially get would be worth the trouble.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena swung her kris towards the projectiles, just barely managing to slash them out of the air. She took a deep breath afterwards, refocusing her attention on Alice.

*This isn't what we want.*

Just barely, she could make out the ghostly figure of a young girl. She gave it a wave, but got no response.

"I just want to talk with you." the gale corsair continued and ran towards Alice, only for Astamon and Gobblemon to jump out.

"Where do you think you're going?" Gobblemon taunted as he pointed his tommygun towards Elena, who didn't even notice the threat. "You're one of those sort of ladies, aren't you?"

"Uh... sure." Elena finally answered back as she took a couple steps back, only to make a running jump over the turkey. "Now can I talk with you, Alice?"

 **Maverick!**

Before she could get an answer, Astamon jumped into the air and attempted to dive kick the gale corsair. Of course, Elena moved out of the way and made her way up the dune, making a quick glance to her teammates and the digimon.

"We'll handle those two. You focus on Alice." Polly shouted and planted a kiss on Aegiochusmon's cheek. "Sis mea pars!"

 **Polly infusion digivolve too... Aquiosmon!**

 **Joey infusion digivolve too... ShadowAngemon!**

 **Aqua Torrent!**

A large wave of water shot out of Aegioschusmon's hands, turning the sand dune into a pile of mud and forced all three opponents down. Of course, this did nothing to impede either Alice or Elena from reaching each other. Of course, those two decided it was best to just go with their weapons instead of their infusion forms.

 **Hellfire!**

Of course, Astamon preferred method of responding to these sorts of problems was to either shoot or kick at them. This was the former. Which the jackal found to be a shame to some extent. While it was fun and all to gun a couple goons down, sometimes one wanted to change it up. Or at the very least, successfully change it up.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly dived into the mud pile, ducking under the gunfire and responded with a slimy uppercut to the jackal. Astamon went for a kick, only to Afterwards, she disappeared back into the mud and returned to Aegiochusmon's side. The harem mage gave her a slight pat on the back, only to turn his attention towards their two opponents.

 **Pylónas tou Ádi (Pillar of Hades)!**

Very carefully, Aegiochusmon slammed his hands down into the dirt, watching a pillar grow forth from the mud. He gave it a slight tap and watched it slam down. And while it didn't quite have the desired effect that he had wanted, it would do for the moment.

 **Shadow Flare!**

As that all happened, Joey shot out a fireball towards Gobblemon. It was surprisingly effective, even if it didn't manage to activate the extra effect. Or it could be that turkeys have a natural fire resistance.

"You're not helping." Gobblemon remarked and dug through his 'pockets', finding a variety of papers from a time he would rather forget. He gave it them a couple stomps, burying them into the mud.

 **Gobble Grenade!**

Gobblemon threw a tin can towards the person, which turned out to be Joey in this case. Of course, the shadow scientist took a deep breath and focused in on the explosive. He pulled his staff back as his hands surged with energy. What resulted was a supercharged swing at the grenade, which managed to connect and explode up in the air.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

Adarnamon began to flap her wings at a rapid pace and watched a tornado form in front of her, which Aaron contributed to in the form of a couple potions. While she was a tiny bit curious to the contents of the vials, something told her it was probably better to not know. She gave one more flap and watch the tornado head off, picking up mud and papers along the way. When did it finally reach the two opponents, they were attempting to run from their lives. Of course, the mud from earlier was managing to slow them down quite a bit.

"This is getting futile." Lily announced as everyone focused in on Elena and Alice. The two were still locked in combat, with neither quite being able to get the advantage on the other.

 **Incense Burn!**

Very carefully, the plush succubus ran towards her master while carrying what appeared to be an incense tray.

"Elena, catch!" she announced and grabbed an incense stick out of the tray and flung it towards the gale corsair. Somehow, Elena managed to make just enough time and distance to get away from her opponent, still somehow managing to miss the grab. Though, she did manage to activate it after unintentionally stepping over it. Grey smoke filled air, bringing forth memories of a different time.

The two girls found themselves in a large open room, enclosed by stained pine walls and a plain white carpet floor. A young girl, possibly no more than five or six, was currently coloring in a picture. She was dressed in a dark blue sundress, with the only defining feature being her purplish brown hair and a pair of amber eyes. A pair of individuals stood at the edge of the room, a couple by the looks of things. The woman was dressed in a red cocktail dress, going quite well with her long hazel hair and blue eyes. The man on the other hand, preferred a tux and pants combo, which complimented his jet black hair and dark brown eyes. A second girl stood in front of them, possibly being no older than the girl coloring. Unlike that girl though, she had chosen to go for a shirt and overall combo that seemed to contrast with her possibly dyed long black hair and dark brown eyes.

"Elena, we would like you to meet somebody." the woman greeted and watched the girl coloring perk up. "This is Alice. She's be your new friend."

The woman then gave 'Alice' a tiny kick, pushing her towards the girl.

"Hello." 'Alice' greeted and watched the girl get up. "Do you want to play with me?"

"Uh... sure?" 'Elena' greeted as she approached. "What do you want to do?"

After that was said, they found themselves back in the mud. The smoke had long since dissipated, with a faint nostalgic scent seeming to hang over the area.

"Uh... what just happened?!" Alice shouted and gave Elena a scowl. "This is just some trick you pulled in order to gain sympathy isn't it? Well it didn't work! I still won't join back up with you!"

*Calm down, Alice."* Suiko whispered as Alice reloaded her pistols.

"Trick?" Elena asked, confused by what the gambler or her spirit was even talking about. "It was probably the result of the ince-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a loud roar pierced the area. Everyone then turned around, finding a Kimeramon standing in front of something at the edge of the water. Unlike the usual mangled fusion digimon one would possibly expect, this one appeared to be wearing a quite stylish top hat and a monocle over it's left eye. In each arm, a cane sword was gripped tightly. Strangely, he was more focused on Alice than the others.

The ultimate dashed over to the gambler, somehow unsheathing all four swords in the process.

"Normally, I wouldn't raise my blades to such a lady. But it seems that you are creating quite a ruckus in my friends sandpit." the kimeramon explained as he reached Alice.

 **Kimera Sword!**

But before he could even get a chance to even strike Alice, Elena ran up and pushed her out of the way. She could only watch as the gambler and her digimon made their way over to one of two now exposed boats as she was slashed a dozen times.

"Bye, suckers!" Alice announced and threw something against the ground. Thick black smoke filled the area, robbing most of the group's vision. When it did finally clear up, their opponents had escaped with a boat.

"Crap." Elena whispered as her body forced itself in her hybrid form. She spent the next couple minutes licking her wounds.

"Do you need some healing?" Cutemon inquired and watched the gale corsair give a nod. "Sounds good."

 **Healing Glow!**

Bright light was then cast forth from the rabbit's hands, making short work of the slash wounds. Afterwards, Elena switched back to her human form and made her way back over to the group.

"Sorry about that." the kimeramon explained and turned his attention to the group. "I'm am Gentleman, your new bodyguard."

"Bodyguard?" Polly inquired as Elena joined them in the group glare. "I'm fairly certain that most of us can handle things should a fight breakout."

The digimon motioned for them to come over, with Elena's group reluctantly heading towards him. Once they were close enough, Gentleman led them to over to a large metal boat.

"I've been asked by Lord Keiserine to follow you." Gentleman added, giving the group a slight bow. "A majority of you are considered... high value targets. Especially with the boy with the staff."

The group looked among each other, not quite sure what he was talking about.

"Welcome to the team." Joey remarked and gave the 'swordsman' a nod.

"Wonderful." Gentleman answered and made his way to the boat.

Elena and co. immediately headed aboard, ready for whatever awaited at their possible destination.

And with that, the fifteenth cycle came to the end. Unlike the end of the previous cycle, there was no big explosion and resetting of the slate. Instead, all they got was a second-long flash of light, which quickly faded away. In a way, everything was the same. And yet, things would soon change for them.

After all, visitors were right at their door and new opportunities awaited...

* * *

Notes:

A cycle is a variable unit of time to denote when a major 'change' is introduced to the digimon multiverse. In this case, this particular cycle was the lead-up to Tri Part 1: Saikai all those years ago. Yeah, it was kind of a weird yet awesome sort of time. Now, we just want Tri to kind 'end'.

Overall, this chapter changed a lot. Mostly in the form of added context and the removal of Rantha and Hilda.

.

Next Time: To Ka'yona we go!


	23. Beautiful Ruin

Session 23

Beautiful Ruin [Summer Salt]

The sea.

Like many things in life, the first impression could truly be deceiving. In this case, Elena and co. had front row seats to the sea. Other than the occasional cliff, it was blue water and clear skies. At such, they had mostly taken to relaxation.

"Duct Tape." Aegiochusmon asked.

"Duct Tape." Polly answered, handing her partner a screwdriver.

"Screwdriver."

"Screwdriver."

Polly handed the harem mage a screwdriver, watching him tinker with the device obtained by Rantha in the previous chapter. While the device appeared to be a simple touchscreen remote, yet appeared to have a variety of settings. These seemed to ranged from mountain-disintegrating blasts to something called the "ecchi option". Along with that, one would could track the device's location, ala GPS.

"There." Aegiochusmon whispered, shoving the device into his partner's face. "I found the stupid thing."

A map of the digital world popped up on the screen, strangely displaying the kingdom of Oracha. The two simultaneously took a deep breath, memories of their last visit resurfacing in their minds.

Land finally came into view. Palm trees and sandstone buildings jutted out, welcoming in travelers. Other than that, there seemed to be an assortment of digimon inhabiting the place. They seemed quite blissfully ignorant, going about their lives with a sense of optimism not seen anywhere else in the digital world.

"Okay then." Gentleman started, jumping off the boat and tied it up to the dock. "Ladies first, of course."

The chosen and their digimon filed off, making sure they hadn't left anything on the transport.

"Welcome to Ka'yona." A blackgatomon greeted, handing each of them a necklace made of an assortment of colorful flowers. "Have a wonderful and peaceful stay."

"Thank you." Elena answered, slipping the necklace around her neck. Everyone else followed suit, giving a pleasant remark to the greeter.

"Look, they have actual tea!" Tsukaimon announced, flying off in the direction of the mythical Earl Gray he had been yearning for. Somehow, the purple pig managed to slam head-on into a crate of black posters with a blue skull stamp emblazoned on it. Joey followed right behind, mostly to make sure his partner didn't cause any more property damage and possibly to have some time for just the two.

"I have an idea." Elena whispered to her partners, who gave a slight nod. The trio broke away from the group, deciding to head towards the markets. As they did that, everyone else had a similar idea.

Like the outskirts of the islands, palm trees and sandstone buildings were quite prolific, stone slab roads seemed to connect the places together and complementing the simple stands manned by shopkeepers. Even if one of them was currently being manned by a malformed being similar to diaboromon. A few seconds later, her gaze shifted away and refocused on a cloaked figure. Even among the assortment of digimon, the person stuck like a sore thumb. The cloak was strangely colored some tone of blackish cyan, with the drogaciji academy symbol emblazoned on it. She was unable to see it's face, mostly due to the matching hood.

"Hello, Elena." the figure answered, as if he knew what the hybrid was about to ask him. "Yes, yes, I am a drogaciji academy student. Graduated, but still a student nonetheless."

The trio stared blankly at him, wondering who the heck they were even talking too. The last time Elena had checked, no one in Drogaciji Academy dressed like that. Strangely, the figure rubbed up against Elena, causing a drogaciji academy necklace to appear around her neck.

"Thank you?" Elena answered, both kris now in hand. "Also, how do you know my name?"

"News travels fast." Adarnamon cleared her throat, while Lily cocked her yumi. "Especially after the mess your friend has caused."

Elena only sighed, rolling her eyes in the process.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena slammed both of her blades into the figure, only for her clothes to be riddled with cactus needles.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

A large twister of air and poison engulfed the opponent, only to shoot out a spray of needles into Elena and Lily.

"Just as I suspected." the quartet turned around, finding Alice standing there. "Still as weak as before."

The corsair groaned, with the figure taking an odd amount of fascination in the sharpshooter. Alice immediately responded with another predictable volley of bullets.

 **Seven Song!**

Adarnamon's feathers turned light blue, causing the rounds to freeze over and fall to the ground.

 **Yumi Barrage!**

A string of arrows shot of Lily's bow, slamming into Alice. However, all that seemed to do was make her even more angry than before. And yet, it seemed to be giving away for a much darker feeling. And yet, the figure remained calm. Which, was probably the best move to make at the moment.

"It won't matter." Alice remarked, whistling to herself.

 **Hellfire!**

 **Gobble Gernade**!

The familiar sound of gunfire echoed throughout the area, followed by the loud boom of a explosive. Strangely, the figure from before grabbed onto Elena and company, pulling them over.

"Ready?" he asked and Elena nodded.

 **Gale Strike!**

 **Needle Breath!**

The corsair slammed her blade into the grenade, watching the projectile carry the explosive away. As that happened, her ally puked needles onto the digimon. Which, was far less gross than it actually sounds.

 **Incense Burn!**

Light blue smoke filled the area, invigorating the heroes and made Alice laugh. She then fired off another volley, which was followed by a couple of grenades and missiles.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

The poisonous twister swept through the area, throwing Astamon along with a turkey dressed in a pinstripe business suit and black fedora up into the air. Strangely, the creature was armed with a similar tommy gun to Astamon's. Unlike the jackal, this one seemed to have the ability to fire out grenades along with bullets.

"So, you're the legendary Alice Zwingli?" the figure finally asked, only for the sharpshooter to stare at him.

"What's it worth to you?" Alice taunted, pulling a deck of cards out along with cracking a cocky smile. The figure then pulled a piece of paper out, looking it over.

"That's odd, since that's not the name I have listed down." Alice froze, yet seemed quite aware of what was coming next. "I have one Suiko Tanaka, not Alice Zwingli."

"You f********* f********* f********* f********* f********* f********* f********* f********* f********* f*********..." this continued on for at least 2-3 pages, in which Alice ranted about a variety of issues, ranging from the confusing thing known as Digimon Adventure Tri to how much the references actually required looking them up. She probably would have continued on, if Elena hadn't slapped her a couple of times. "So long suckers!"

She then ran off, proceeding to kill a couple of families in the process. Her digimon followed right behind, copying their master action with extreme reluctance.

"Well, my work here is done." the figure added, teleporting away. Elena stood there, taking a quick deep breath. In a way, the corsair believed she was starting to understand her opponent. But at the same time, pieces were still missing to this puzzle...

.

Aaron stood at the shrine.

It had been a long time since he been here, yet he felt home again.

"Well, I'm back." he whispered, taking a step forward.

* * *

Notes:

First off, let's get the big one out of the way. My thoughts on Tri.

Personally, I enjoyed Tri a whole lot, even if it felt incomplete and confusing. Actually, my only real complaint (other than it breaking almost all is the unwillingness to acknowledge 02 to a greater extent. Other than that, it would have been nice if they had at least given us some hint at who the true villain is.

.

Now, the more interesting stuff.

First up, DAO, Project Digital and L0g3cy now have their own personal thread on Digital Connections.

Second, DAO is now my longest fic I ever written, now longer than DA03.

And Third, I may have have hidden a couple references to other writers.

.

Next Time: Aaron finally gets his infusion form! About frigging time too...


	24. No turning back

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 24

Fairy Reflection

Aaron sighed.

The building in question was a small cottage, mostly composed of cobblestone and wood. Yet, it was the little slice of paradise he called home.

"H-h-h-h-h-h-home." Cutemon nervously mumbled, grabbing the handle of the door and pulled it open. Inside, oak walls and floors welcomed them, ready to be used after such a long time. Aaron quick sat himself down at a plain desk, fishing through the countless folders strung across his desk. After pushing most of them off, he came to what he looking for. Or had, if a large armored vehicle hadn't slammed through the home.

"Hey!" the detective announced, only to get the roadrunner sound from the driver. He took a deep breath, picking the files back up. Thankfully, the file was only flattened. Aaron scraped it off the floor and gave it a quick dust-off.

 **The deaths of Verena and Gabe Tanaka**

 **May 28 2014**

It was funny in a way.

Two of the most powerful people to ever walk the walk the digital world, killed by Alice, via cutting the brakes of their car. That method was second to starvation in his book, which was at the very least gave the "person" a fighting chance.

"Hey..." the detective turned around, finding a drunken Aegiochusmon standing there. Beside him, was a teenage boy just as drunk as he was. He was probably part of the lucky ones, judging by the close proximity to submarine sandwich guy. Thankfully, the three scrammed as quickly as they appeared, returning peace and quiet to the ruined home. The detective then opened the folder up, examining the contents. At first, it was just routine stuff, you know like the time of death and the cause. Strangely, the detective in charge was listed as "Wholebear". While he was slightly familiar with the name and the status it came with it, Aaron had only seen the elusive bugger once, but that was during the tournament.

"Was that even canon?" he thought, pulling an entirely different file off the floor and examined its contents. "It was? Ayeayeaye..."

After putting the second folder down, he continued his search through the first folder

 _While magic is not suspected, Wholebear believes murder was inside job. While both Gabe and Verena have enemies, even they have mutual respect for them. As such, those closest could have done this._

Aaron took a deep breath.

Everything about this felt strange to him. He already knew who the culprit was due to Elena, he was pretty certain that Wholebear should have easily found some sort of existence of Alice within her home. The detective placed the file back on the desk, taking a deep breath. Cutemon then ran over to him, embracing his leg in some sort of awkward hug,

"What's wrong, bud?" he whispered, picking his partner up and embracing him in a proper hug.

"S-s-s-s-s-she's here." the rookie answered, pointing behind them. The two turned around, finding Alice, Astamon and the gangster turkey from before standing there. Aaron only sighed, pulling a potion bottle full of a green sticky liquid. He chucked the bottle towards the trio, only to watch it get shot down by a combination of Alice's pistols and the turkey's grenades.

"Is that seriously all you got?" Alice remarked, reloading her guns and giving Aaron a cocky smirk. Aaron only placed Cutemon on the ground and dug through his satchel, pulling out a vial of yellow liquid with a slight buzz to it. The detective threw it up into the air, watching it get shattered by gunfire. What followed, was a large swarm of bees swooping down and stung at their opponents, who repelled it with a couple of grenades. "Just as I thought. You're as bad of a detective as you're a fighter."

 **Gobble Grenade!**

 **Hellfire!**

A flurry of bullets and grenades littered the area, actually managing to hit both Aaron and Cutemon. Yet, neither were ready to give up.

"A friend once told me an easy way to tell the difference between a hero and villain." Aaron taunted, pulling his own pistol out. "Once you see the color of their heart, you'll know the truth."

"In that case detective, what color is mine?" Alice accused, more than ready to kill the detective.

"Black." Alice fired both guns on full-auto, only to miss. "What did you expect, white?"

Aaron took a deep breath, only for a wicked smile to form on Alice's face.

 **Alice infusion digivolve too... GamblerNekomon (Despair)!**

"What the f***?"

In the place of Alice, stood a large white cat creature with a teenage girl chained to its back. The girl was dressed in a white sailor fuku and blue skirt, with her eyelids and mouth sewn shut. In it's left hand, was a deck of cards. It's right, was currently gripping a gun.

 _Scanning..._

 **GamblerNekomon (Despair)**

 **$e^%, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Despair Draw, Full Auto Barrage, Card Flame**

 **.**

 **Author: You broke it!**

 **Alice: I guess this won't help my case at all.**

 **Author: Huh?**

 _Scan complete._

 **Despair Draw!**

Two cards appeared in front of the girl's chest, revealing the jack of hearts and the ten of spades, personified by Jestery and SS Uraboroas respectively. Circular screens formed around Alice, showing off a variety of places. While most of them appeared to be of the digital world, one of them appeared to be of Hunter's End. In just five seconds, three years of hard work was destroyed, leaving only a couple of characters unscathed.

"Oopsy!" Alice announced, firing off a few shots into the air. "Oh well, no one actually liked them anyhow."

"Is that so?" Aaron answered, pulling another glass bottle out. Unlike the previous vials, this one appeared to have a yellowish green liquid within it. He gulped it down in one sitting, dropping the vial to the ground. ""No one" is quite a loaded phrase, after all. If one searched hard enough, they would find a fan."

 **Aaron infusion digivolve too... Shamon!**

In Aaron's place, stood a man dressed in a brown cloak. He had a potion bottle in each hand, with an aura of healing seeming to surround him.

 _Scanning..._

 **Shamon**

 **Champion/Infusion, Vaccine**

 **Special Moves: Alchemy Barrage, Healing Breeze, SCQC**

 **.**

 **Alice: Yawn...**

 **Aaron: Hey!**

 **Alice: Unimpressed.**

 _Scan complete._

 **Alchemy Barrage!**

Aaron flung a couple of vials out, only for the projectiles to slam harmlessly into Alice.

 **Card Flame!**

The girl on Alice's back flung a couple of cards into the air, only for them to suddenly burst into flames and slam head-on into their target.

 **Healing Bree-**

Before Aaron could finish his attack, a barrage of bullets slammed into his chest and reverted him back. After, he fell to the ground, blood gushing out of his lower chest.

"Your death will be my pleasure." Alice walked over to her opponent, only for some sort of projectile to slam into her butt. "What is the meaning of this?"

Laughter filled the air. Yet, it felt like the evil kind of laughter, the kind usually only used by the evilest of villains. Alice turned around, finding Chaos and her scorceressmon standing there.

"So, this is the caged beast that terrorizes these people." Chaos answered, pulling a large broadsword out. "In a way, you're a lot like me."

She swung her weapon into the gambler, only being able to knock her back a little bit.

"Uh... thanks?" Aaron remarked, with Chaos sighing.

"Gather everyone." Chaos answered, partially deflecting a card flame attack. Aaron still laid there, watching her cloak get engulfed in flames. "Are you listening?!"

"Yes, ma'am." Aaron mumbled, quickly getting up to his feet.

 **Healing Glow!**

Cutemon lightly tapped the knee of his partner, causing Aaron's bullet wounds to heal up. The two quickly gathered their stuff and left the battlefield, with Astamon and the turkey digimon following right behind. That just left Alice, Chaos and her digimon partner.

"No more holding back." Chaos thought, throwing her flaming cloak and hood to the ground, revealing a teenage girl dressed in the cloak of a white mage. Strangely, her purplish blue hair and glowing yellow eyes truly contrasted with the look she was going for. She pulled her sword back and slammed it into her opponent. "And no turning back.

It was going to be a long battle.

* * *

Notes:

Didn't see that coming did you? Oh well, you'll just have to wait and see.

On a much more serious note, last chapter of DAO for 2015.

.

Next Chapter: A little game of cat and mouse...


	25. All-in

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 25

All-in

Joey sighed.

"Well, you got your tea." he added, watching his partner sip out of the small cup. As Tsukaimon was doing that, he was currently rebuilding a stall. Because you know what, actions have consequences that are thrown onto those who were innocent. While not always true, it did seem that way. Thankfully, Gentleman and the drogaciji duo were there to help him at least.

"This tea is cold!" Tsukaimon announced, only to take a crimson fireball to the face from the shopkeeper. "Much better."

The purple pig finished the rest of the drink with no more complaints. Overall, it was alright, but not that great in comparison to actual earl gray tea one could get in Europe. "So, how's it going?"

"Wonderful." Joey answered, just about ready to punch the pig. "Why don't you actually help us?"

Tsuakimon only stared at him, blissfully unaware of the situation around him.

"Oh well." Hilda remarked, fitting a table leg back into place as Rantha did the same. As they finished rebuilding the tea stand, Aaron and Cutemon limped over to them.

"Are you alright?" Rantha asked, only for the alchemist to shake his head. "At the very least, what happened?"

"C-c-c-c-c-c-haos..." Cutemon whispered, cowering behind his master's legs after saying it.

"We're legitimately considering that canon?" Tsukaimon complained, promptly getting a sharp "slap" to the head. "Fine."

"Anything else?" Joey inquired, only for Aaron to sigh.

"Alice went all beast mode." the detective explained, only for looks of confusion to appear on his friends faces. "I gained my infusion form, only to get defeated right after. Following that, Chaos showed up and started fighting."

The blanks stares of the group quickly changed to one that appeared to be one part confusion and one part WTF. Thankfully, the faint calling out of an attack broke their frozen state.

"In other words, we need to Elena and Polly." Hilda explained, with Aaron giving a slight nod. "Am I psychic or what?"

"Sure..." Rantha answered, taking a deep breath. "Do we even know where they are?"

Before anyone could answer, black orbs began to fall down from the sky. Strangely, the attack was less aimed at them and more of scattered across the whole city. Following that, a grayish mist filled the plaza, creating a fog with the consistency of split-pea soup.

"Let's play a game shall we?" a voice called out, which seemed to have a strange echo to it. "Find me and you will win..."

Cries of agony erupted on the outskirts of the island, which were quickly followed by abrupt silence.

"Let's get going then." Joey started, finding only Tsukaimon beside him.

 **Joey infusion digivolve too... ShadowAngemon!**

 **Shadow Flare!**

A purplish sphere of dark energy shot out of his staff, slicing through the fog and explode just above it. Afterwards, the two made their way down the street, neither turning to see what was chasing them.

.

As those were running for their lives, Aaron found himself in some sort of interesting situation. While he wanted to investigate who was chasing them, dying didn't sound that fun at all. He made a quick glance towards the sky, noticing what remained of the shadow flare. The then pulled his pistol out, firing an upwards shot off. Following that, Aaron threw a potion to the ground, just in case.

He then headed off, not even being graceful enough to turn to see it the dungeon master was even telling the truth.

.

Polly sighed.

Somehow, she and Aegiochusmon had managed to get themselves back into a bar, which she had pulled her partner out of offscreen during the previous chapter.

"Come on." the monk whispered and pulled the harem mage out of the building. As she did that, Elena and her digimon ran up to them. "What's wrong?"

"Let's see..." Elena explained. "Weird black things have been sent out to kill us by someone, possibly Alice."

"Oh." Polly answered, only to turn around.

Heading towards them, appeared to be pale-skinned chibi dolls dressed in white sailor fuku's . Black hair was complimented by emotionless gray eyes and a trail of purple sludge the dolls seemed to leave behind.

"Sucide dolls." Aegiochusmon whimpered, actually getting up and staggered over to one of the dolls."Here Sayo, Sayo, Sayo..."

A doll bit down onto his arm, only to suddenly disappear. A few seconds later, a numemon merchant began to shake uncontrollably and suddenly revert back into a digi-egg.

"Okay then." Polly added, heading off with Elena and co following right behind.

 **Gale Strike!**

The projectile shot through the fog, exploding right above it.

"There we go." Elena remarked, running back up to the rest of the group. The road eventually led into a thick forest, the sound of a sword slamming upon an opponent filling their mouths with such sweet flavor. As they got there, the rest of their group was already there.

"No time like the present." Rantha remarked, the group slashing and stabbing their way through the vine-infested area. "There they are!"

Chaos and her scorceressmon were currently locked in combat against Alice, trading blow for blow. It was a surprisingly even fight, even if Chaos was currently using her claymore along with the support spells from her partner.

"Okay then." the group announced, only for their former friend to take notice of them.

"Good, you made it." Alice taunted, rolling her eyes at them as the group went into their infusion forms. "Do you really think your 'powers of friendship and believing in yourself' will really defeat me?"

The chosen stared at her, weapons in hand. Before they could move however, a guy with a submarine sandwich charged towards their opponent.

 **Full Auto Shot!**

A stream of bullets slammed into the moron, but not before he managed to get one hit on her.

"As I was saying..." Before Alice could continue, a large group of humans and digimon approached. "Bring it on!"

Chaos gave the group a quick glance, cracking a smile. Things were starting to look up for them, even if the table could easily flip in the other direction...

* * *

Notes:

Yes, I said that session 24 for would be the last DAO chapter for 2015. But, plans can easily change.

.

Next Time: Heroes & Villains vs Alice!


	26. Re-Fly

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 26

Re-Fly

What followed, was one incredibly long digivolution sequence. In that time, Alice stole a submarine sandwich, ate it, killed a terriermon, ate that as well and then proceeded to flip the viewer off.

"Are you done yet?" the gambler announced, taking in the sight of an army staring right at her. It was ironic in a way, everyone gathering here just for one person. "Time to end this, once and for all." She scratched her claws against the ground, possibly attempting to mock them.

Elena then ran towards the gambler, both kris in hand. Ever since the two first encountered each other in the canyon, the two had differing opinions to each other. To Alice, Elena came off as a perfect tool that only served to further her goals in the long run. In a way, it made betraying the group a whole lot more easier for her. On the other hand, the corsair saw Alice as both a friend and an ally within this mess. It made Alice's betrayal aggravating yet, giving her a way grow and improve.

 **Gale Strike!**

The corsair jumped into the air, kicking the gambler's back and proceeded to slam both daggers into Alice. The opponent immediately shook her off, Elena's gaze focusing more on Adarnamon than the opponent.

Adarnamon flew towards the target, beginning to flap her wings as she reached Alice. A couple of seconds later, a large twister of air and poison swirled in front of her.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

The bird flapped her wings one final time, watching the tornado immediately pull Alice in and spin her around.

 **Full Auto Fire!**

The gun from the chained girl fired off at the rapid pace of a Gatling gun, filling the area with a hail of bullets that managed to dispel the tornado. Strangely, scabs had begun to form upon her exposed arms afterwards.

 **Entangle!**

Vines sprouted forth from the ground, quickly grabbing hold of Alice. The gambler looked all around, eventually coming upon a green-skinned girl dressed in a short pink dress. She immediately went to work scratching and stomping the nuisance, not giving a second thought to the world around her.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

A slimy fist slammed into her butt, catching the gambler by surprise. Alice then turned back around, finding Polly standing before her.

"Thanks Lydia." Polly whispered, turning her attention to Alice. She was an outsider to all of this, never knowing the full story. Now, she was starting to get it to an extent. While there were major chunks of the puzzle missing, things were beginning to become crystal clear.

Alice sighed, returning her attention to the rest of the opponents. While she originally hadn't planned to use the attack she had in mind, there was no choice. She would have to face the consequences a second time.

 **Despair Draw!**

The seven of diamonds and the four of clubs appeared in front of caged girl's chest, represented by Swaggy McSwaggypants and a Monokuma respectively. What followed, was a a bunch of swaggy clones appearing around Alice, along with a monokuma now standing on her head. Strangely, all this got her was a mix of confused stares and laughter. Those reactions quickly vanished off their faces, following another barrage of full auto fire. Unlike the previous bullet hell situations, this one actually managed to knock a large portion of the group a few feet backwards. However, that could have been due to the added banana peels. While everyone else was dealing with that, the scabs upon the chained girl opened as new scabs appeared upon her.

Joey ran towards his opponent, his fist now covered with even more black smoke than before. He was pissed about all of this, just about ready to give into the darkness like the last time. The scientist made a quick glance towards his partner, who was still drinking his tea and cheering him on. And yet when he saw that expression, it brought him back out the hole he had dug.

 **Shadow Knuckle!**

Joey slammed his fist against Alice's right side, causing a second fist to appear and punch the opponent in the groin.

 **Card Flame!**

Playing cards began to rain down upon the heroes, only to achieve spontaneous combustion and turn into fireballs. While that was happening, Alice pulled herself out of the dirt, grabbing hold of some boy with her mouse. Unsurprisingly, it was the very unimportant character, Makoto Naegi.

"I guess you'll be the honorary candidate to die." the gambler announced, Makoto strangely deciding to crack a smile.

"Go ahead and do it." the luckster answered, more than ready to face his fate. Everyone waited for him to continue with something witty, only for the next line to never After, Alice dropped the body onto the ground and proceeded to jump up and own on it. He could have been the queen of England and Alice still wouldn't have cared.

Aaron took a deep breath, admiring all that had come to fight with them.

If they currently weren't in the mess caused by Alice, he probably interview them all and learn their stories. At best, he would be closer to closing a couple of cases within his notebook. At worst, he would have a couple of leads and some new stories to tell. He turned his gaze back to Alice, pulling something out of his pouch.

 **Alchemical Barrage!**

The detective then flung an assortment of potion bottles up into the air, watching them soar towards their target.

As that happened, Lily stood at the edge of a roof. A young woman laid beside her, gazing down the scope of a sniper rifle. To the left of the woman, an amalgamation of what appeared to be an Angewomon and a Taomon was firing off a longbow. In a way, it took the doll back to before this. While she could only remember only fragments of it, that was all Lily needed. It was better than having no recollection of it at all.

 **Yumi Shot!**

Lily cocked her yumi back and fired, watching the arrow shatter the bottles and drench their various contents upon the opponent.

 **Full Auto Fire!**

The rate of fire and amount of bullets increased quite dramatically this time, making one play a pseudo game of hole in the wall to stay unscathed. Now, the chained girl looked more like an open scab, blood and puss dripping out of her.

Elena took a deep breath, motioning her teammates not to follow. She was the one who started this mess to an extent, she would be the one to rectify all of this.

Aegiochusmon sighed, secretly following Elena. He understood slightly what she was planning to do. In a way, once could say the cosair and the harem mage were similar. They made a choice and now, must face the consequences of their actions.

Polly took a deep breath, joining the procession. For as little as she knew about the gambler, the monk understood what was going on. This weight Alice had put down upon herself, wan't dragging herself down. It was dragging everyone else down with her.

Joey and Aaron quickly followed behind, with the digimon right on their heels. Except for two of course.

"What should we do, boss?" the still unnamed turkey digimon asked, with Astamon staring towards the ground. "We can't just let them do that."

"It's not that simple, Gobblemon." Astamon whispered, sighing. "We're Miss Alice's digimon partners after all."

"Yes, but..." Gobblemon started to say something, only to stop and take a deep breath. "If it weren't for what she did, do you think you two yakuza would have met me a gangster like me?"

Astamon stared at the turkey, looking for an answer. While Elena and company hadn't reached their master yet, the group was making quite a brisk pace. Heck, everyone else that had suddenly showed up were starting to wonder why they even had come in the first place.

"Yes." the jackal answered, dashing towards the group. Gobblemon reluctantly following right behind. As they got there, the chosen were now mere steps away from Alice. Elena was still up in front, both kris now hanging by her waist.

"Even better." Alice remarked, a look of cocky superiority upon her face. While having only killed one person at this point, she was quite sure of her victory over them.

Elena pulled both of her daggers back out, watching Alice's expression change from superiority to fear. The corsair then jumped up onto Alice's back, slicing away the strings holding the caged girl's mouth shut. After, they began the tricky process of "slicing" away the chains around Alice.

 **Blazing Earth!**

Aegiochusmon held both of his hands out, watching the beam of lava slam into the chains. The chain shattered, only for three new ones to shoot out and attempt to whip the harem mage.

 **Seven Song!**

Adarnamon's feathers glowed cyan as she sung, causing a series of wave-shaped projectiles to shoot out and slam into the swinging chains. The chains shattered, only to reform into more chains.

 **Yumi Shot!**

Lily fired her yumi off rapidly, watching her arrows slam into the chains.

 **Shadow Flare!**

Joey swung his staff towards Alice, watching the fireballs slam into their targets.

 **Dark Bubble!**

Tsukaimon puffed up, launching out a powerful belch.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly jumped into the air and slammed her fist into Tsukaimon's attack, watching the projectile fly through the air.

 **Gobble Grenade!**

Gobblemon pulled a live grenade out, lobbing it up into the air.

Alchemic Barrage!

Aaron flung a couple of potions up into the air, observing their trajectories.

 **Hellfire!**

Astamon fired his tommy gun off, gazing towards the rounds that collided with Gobblemon's grenade and Aaron's potions.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena slammed both of her blades into the chains, watching them shatter one final time.

*Thank you...*

The schoolgirl then slumped onto the ground, exploding into a stream of digital data. The data stream headed straight to Alice, getting absorbed back into her. Following that, Alice's body shattered only to slowly reform itself. At first, Alice looked the same, minus her fake nails and left red eye. In it's place, was a brown one. Her outfit was pretty much the same as before, adding a drogaciji academy necklace. Strangely, her silk gloves were now gone.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Lily added, snickering slightly at the slightly predicted plot twist. "I'm pretty certain that's punishment enough.

"That's all I get?* Alice answered, her voice now having a slight echo to it. "Now what?*

After saying that, the sky above Ka'yona tore open and revealed a large swirling purplish blue portal. For some reason, this was a huge blaring symbol to head through it.

"How about a team name?" Elena suggested."How about Delta?"

Everyone nodded in reluctant agreement, even Alice. After they headed through, ready for whatever awaited them...

* * *

Notes:

The finished project you see before you didn't look half as nice as this. It was only till about halfway through writing this, did I do some massive edits. Mostly it was adding exposition for most of Delta when they attacked. There was some cut stuff but, that's an interesting story for another time...

.

Next time: Alice's "punishment" and the start of the next arc!


	27. And then it changes

I don't own digimon.

Session 27

And then it changes...

Alice sighed. After her defeat in the previous chapter, the gambler needed to decompress and possibly have something to drink.

"Anything witty?" she thought, waiting for Suiko to add her two cents into this.

*Uh... I got nothing.*

As much as Alice wanted to mentally flip herself off, her hands had been tied behind her back to the rim of a fountain displaying statues of the hunters. Along with that, the author had flung both of her guns into said fountain. At least her digimon were nearby.

"Oh it's you." Alice's gaze shot up, finding a man dressed in a blackish cyan cloak and hood standing before her. "Fuck you, murderer."

The person dashed away, leaving Alice with an interesting choice. She could let the asshole get away, or go after him and make him pay for that remark.

She took a deep breath and slammed both of her legs to the right, managing to make a quite impressive dent into her "prison".

"Now to find Asta-" before the gambler could finish her sentence, four little words echoed throughout the "building".

"Jestery owns you now."

The once peace and calm of the area quickly turned to rioting and fighting in a matter of seconds. She turned around, taking the fountain in for what it's worth. While the statues of the hunters did irk her slightly, they were useful for a number of things. The Aurora statue in particular, seemed more handy than the others.

"Perfect." the gambler thought, ripping the twin revolvers out of the petrified cowgirl's hands. For now, they would work in place of her usual guns.

 **Celestial Shower!**

A waterfall of arrows filled the area, it's shooter possibly situated near the stage. Alice quickly made her way over, making sure she did not take an arrow to the face or the knee. Yet as she approached, a sharp pain formed in her head. At first, it was the mild annoying sort. You know, the kind one could get by poking themselves light with something sharp. Then came the much worse stabbing pain, you know from possibly getting stabbed. The pain only intensified even more, forcing her to the ground. Her eyelids grew heavier, only to slam shut.

.

Suiko Tanaka opens her eyes.

She was back here again yet, something seemed different. Her school clothes were now in tatters, with what remained being used to cover up some of her wounds. Even then, the majority of the scabs seemed to be open and/or spewing an ungodly amount of blood upon her. The schoolgirl took a deep breath, her gaze now focused on her surroundings. A blood red sky hung overhead once more, serving as the only contrast to the rubble that was once buildings and streets.

"Good, you're alive." Suiko turned around, finding Alice Zwingli standing before her. "Oh, don't be so surprised. It's tome we ended this once and for all."

The two only stared at each other, neither willing to strike the other down. A few seconds later, they both fell to the ground. Time was running out, with the duo only having one bullet in the chamber. so, they did what any sane person would do in this situation. They fired, hoping for the best.

The projectiles flew by, only to miss their targets altogether. Following that, the world around them shattered completely, revealing Alice kneeling within Hunter's End. A surprise look immediately formed on her face, with no easy explanation for what just happened. Even then, it was probably one of those a person could possibly interpret but never do for some reason. That, or we're looking way too deep into this. Your pick, viewer.

"We're back.* the gambler thought, taking it all in once more while she reloaded. While there was still fighting within this chaotic place, the dynamic had changed. Everyone's attention had shifted away from Jestery and onto a new and technically unknown threat. Before she could even inquire about what even happening, a cold hand grabbed hold of her throat. Alice was then lifted up into the air, shaken around for the whole world to see.

"So this is the scrounge who destroyed despair high, huh?" her captor announced, everyone in Hunter's End almost immediately focusing upon the tall man dressed in a business suit and a steel full helm. "You're truly a pathetic thing."

He then slammed Alice into the floor, knocking the rest of Delta through in the process.

Outside, the void strangely did not extend infinitely, spitting them out upon a monotone brick plaza. After, they checked for any broken bones and/or wounds that needed to be healed.

*Are you sure that rodent knows what he's doing?*

Alice only rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Suiko." she whispered, watching as the shy pink rabbit applied a glow over her whole body. It felt weird, yet in a good sort of way to the "two" of them. Yet, something felt different. Alice dug through her pockets, pulling out a crimson pocket watch with a dragon-scale style texture. Imprinted on the lid, was a green four leaf clover. Just looking at it made her chuckle. She flipped the lid open, doing a double take.

No matter the path, we still love you

-Mom and Dad

Alice clenched the timepiece towards her heart, tears beginning to fall down her face. As she cried, Elena came up from behind and gave her a hug.

"It will be alright." the corsair explained, gripping her tightly. "No matter what happens, we'll be your friends."

Alice smiled, hugging the hybrid back as tightly as she could.

"Thanks." she answered, shoving the pocketwatch back in her pockets as Astamon and Gobblemon walked up to her.

"Ready?"

Both digimon gave her a slight nod, glad to have their friend back.

"Uh... guys?"

Almost everyone turned around, focusing their gaze on Tsuakimon.

"What's wrong?" Joey inquired, only for thick whitish gray fog to engulf the area.

"Welcome home, Fate and Akira."

Notes:

And another arc is in the books!

Next Time: Magical girls, anyone?


	28. Drogaciji Vu

Session 28

Drogaciji Vu

Magic.

Like many things within this eternal madhouse, it came in many forms. From the classic polymorph self to turning sticks to snakes, one could easily learn it at Mahora.

In the past, the school was a prestigious place for all wizards to hone their craft and complete their studies. Recently, Mahora has become a shadow of it's former self.

And so we come upon Delta, who currently find themselves in a bit of a pickle. While they knew of one opponent within the fog, they were still unsure if said opponent was just alone or part of a much bigger group waiting to kick their asses. So, they went with the simplest solution to find that answer out.

 **Alice infusion digivolve too... Alice?**

 **Joey infusion digivolve too... Joey?**

 **Polly infusion digivolve too... Polly?**

 **Aaron infusion digivolve too... Aaron?**

While they did that, Elena attempted to switch forms to no avail. The corsair tried a few more times, Gentleman slammed into the ground in a massive fireball. The ultimate then dusted the burning floor pieces and dirt off, making his way over to Joey. Strangely, this made their opponent laugh. The fog dissipated, revealing four girls. They looked human in appearance, if you counted various body parts sewn together as "human". They didn't appear armed, not that it any of them could really tell.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena dashed towards the group, donkey kicking the closest goon. The goon then cracked a smile, slamming her foot against the ground as a chalk circle appeared in that exact spot. The ground opened up, only for a storm of shuriken to shoot out and knock her back into her two digimon.

 **Full Auto Fire!**

Alice shot both of her guns off, watching as a second set of rounds seemed to hang around a little bit after the first. However, those projectiles were easily shattered by the shuriken.

 **Dark Bubble!**

Tsukaimon shot a bubble up into the air, only for it to hone in on Joey. The scientist slammed his staff into the projectile, watching it fly over the shuriken rift. However, Goon #2 chanted something under his breath, causing a black hole to form in his hands. The members of Delta just stared at him, wondering what the heck was going on.

 **Yumi Shot!**

Lily cocked her yumi back, watching the arrow fly towards the "void" and shatter the attack. As she did that, Astamon and Gobblemon charged towards the front of the group.

 **Gobble Grenade!**

Gobblemon lobbed one of his many grenades into the air, giving Astamon a nod.

 **Hellfire!**

Astamon then fired his tommy gun off, watching the grenade explode in the crowd. Strangely, this did little to phase the crowd.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

Adarnamon flapped her wings, watching as the twister of wind and poison engulfed their targets. Even then, it barely lifted the trio of opponents up.

"Enough." Aegiochusmon announced, knocking both Elena and Alice behind him. "I'll handle this."

The harem mage then walked over to his opponents, only for a rock to knock him into the air and across the entire area a total of three times before slamming into a far off cabin.

"Good work, girls." a voice remarked, as the angel from last chapter floated down before them. "I am Talos, the Sentinel."

All four goons swooned towards him, only for a burst of lava to slam into the nearest girl. Afterwards, Aegiochusmon made his return.

"Ready to do this, slut?" he announced, only for Polly to run up to him. "Sis mea pars!"

The two kissed, as their teammates and opponents watched on. After, a dark beam engulfed then engulfed the monk. As such, Elena and company took a couple of cautious steps back.

 **Polly dark infusion digivolve too... Sireniosmon!**

Instead of the usual slime mermaid, a large slime leviathan stood in Polly's place. The creature then roared, unleashing a torrent of water against all. Friend or foe, it didn't matter to her at that point. They were all caught in the crossfire of the beast's rampage.

"Figures." Talos announced and slowly clapped his hands. "You've lost your touch, old man."

Aegiochusmon walked over to him, taking a deep breath.

"Old man?"

 **Blazing Earth!**

A stream of lava headed towards Talos, only for the weasel to teleport away and allow the attack to hit Polly.

 **Watery Grave Blast!**

Another torrent of water shot out from the slime, slamming into the three goons.

"How dare you!" Goon #1 announced, attempting to create another shuriken rift. However, the corpse trio were given a couple of tail slaps from their opponent. After, Polly turned her attention to that of Delta, charging up another watery torrent.

"Run!" Elena shouted, dashing away from the group. Her digimon followed right behind, with everyone else bringing up the rear.

 **Seaside Tail Slap!**

Polly slammed her tail into the back of the group, knocking Cutemon and Lily up into the air and back into the ground.

 **Incense Burn!**

Dark blue smoke filled the area, strangely invigorating them to move their arms even faster. Off in the distance, a small cabin white cabin came into view. Behind it, the faint outline of a light grey lake could just be made out.

"Almost there...* Alice whispered, making a quick glance behind them. Polly seemed much angrier now, deciding to fling large chunks of the ground in their direction. "Crud.*

The gambler dashed to the right, watching the projectile slam into the ground in her original spot.

 **Watery Grave Blast!**

Polly began to charge up another torrent of water as the cabin was now steps away. They pulled the door open, heading in.

Unlike the outside, the inside had oak paneling and a nice cream carpet. From top to bottom, everything appeared to be covered in a layer of quite thick dust or looked just about ready to break into a gazillion pieces. Joey walked over to what appeared to be a table, scooped some dust off and walked out of the home. While none of the other chosen could see what was going on, all they could hear was a mix of panic and the gushing of water. The door then opened, revealing the scientist with yellow sparks coming off from him.

 **Healing Glow!**

Cutemon went to work on fixing Joey, with the rest of Delta turning their attention to Aegiochusmon.

"There is no helping it, is there?" the harem mage remarked, taking another deep breath. "I guess it's time to finish this."

He then walked out, leaving the group in silence...

Notes:

If you're confused, go back and read session 17.

Next Time: Aegiochusmon attempts to calm Polly down.


	29. A different route

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Chapter 29

A different route

Aegiochusmon sighed.

He stared his corrupted partner down, waiting for a response. All he got was a frustrated growl from her, bitching about something.

"Yes bimbo, I get it." the harem mage remarked, attempting to keep Polly's attention. "I realize being in this form isn't what you enjoy, but there is-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Polly drenched him in a massive tsunami of water.

In a way, he probably deserved it. While they weren't the ones who had gotten themselves into this situation, they were at fault to an extent for the domino chain that brought forth all of this. While the harem mage was lost in thought, Elena walked up to them.

"How is it going, Aegiochusmon?" the corsair greeted, getting a face full of lava.

"Scram." Aegiochusmon answered, grabbing Elena by her feet and flung her into the cabin.

 **Gale Strike!**

After peeling herself off the wall, Elena charged towards her opponent and kicked him up into the air. After, she unleashed a string of stabs and slashes upon Aegiochusmon.

 **Pylónas tou Ádi (Pillar of Hades)** **!**

A large stone pillar erupted from the ground, only to fall over in Elena's path. The corsair smiled, giving the structure a slight kick backwards. Somehow, this was enough to knock it onto Aegiochusmon's head.

 **Mille Gladii Obsidiani (Thousand Obsidian Swords)!**

A legion of black swords appeared, shooting down upon the battlefield.

"It's funny in a way." Aegiochusmon remarked, pulling one of the obsidian swords out of the ground. "You're the odd one out."

Elena only rolled her eyes.

"I could say the same about you." Elena answered, slamming her daggers into the sword. "Slave driver."

"Said the mess of a hybrid."

 **Watery Grave Blast!**

Before the two could continue their swordfight, Polly unleashed a waterfall upon the two.

"I guess we can call this one a draw." a voice announced and both contenders turned around, finding Adarnamon fluttering in place over by Polly for a couple of seconds. After, the slime sea serpent thing slapped the bird away.

 **Seven Song!**

Adarnamon feather's glowed yellow, only for the champion digimon to screech some sort of song. It sounded something like some sort of bad electric guitar solo, which then sprouted out electricity that honed into Polly. As such, Adarnamon was slapped out of the sky and slammed into the ground.

Adarnamon then pulled herself out, shaking the dirt off her feathers. The two then stared towards the other duo, itching for a challenge. Aegiochusmon only made a quick glance over at Polly, who softly roared. Strangely, he could make out the figure

"No." the harem mage answered, motioning for his partner to follow. "I appreciate the offer but, this is something only Polly and I can accomplish at the moment."

The two then headed off, with the other duo just watching on. The fog then returned and forced both of them to return to the cabin.

Inside, the members of Delta were mostly recovering from the chase in the previous chapter. Aaron and Cutemon were attempting to cure Joey, with littlest of help given by Tsukaimon and Gentleman. While they were doing that, Alice and her partner digimon were cleaning and inspecting their weapons. As she walked over to them, their gazes shifted to her.

"So, what's the plan?* Alice joked, only for Elena to sigh.

"We go after them." the corsair answered, heading back towards the door and pulled it open. As she did that, Lily walked up to her.

"Sounds good.*

Alice then got up, motioning for both Astamon and Gobblemon to follow right behind. As they did that, Joey cautiously got up and pulled his notes out. After flipping through them for a couple of seconds, he stopped and muttered something under his breath. Three balls of yellow light then slammed into him, only for the scientist to be lifted into the air and bathed in a green glow.

"If you were able to do that before, "Aaron inquired, writing something down in his notebook. "Why didn't you do that earlier?"

Joey only sighed.

"Because throwing dust at a sea serpent is a bad idea." Joey answered, with the two heading over to the girls. As usual, the digimon were bringing up the rear. They then headed out, pulling their weapons in the process.

The fog was much thicker now, almost to the consistency of actual smoke.

 **Full Auto Fire!**

Alice unloaded at least two clips, watching the bullets poke holes into the veil. Once a big enough hole had been created, they headed through. On the other side, a stone path headed along the monotone area. In the distance, a cluster of red brick buildings stood in silence. At one point, they were probably filled with the hope and dreams of students. Now, all that remained was silence and despair of the dead. Yet, something seemed off.

"We found you."

The members of Delta turned around, finding a horde of young boys and girls. Like the three girls that attacked them, they appeared to be made from a variety of corpses found all around the school. Strangely, all of them were dressed in a patchwork-style of cloak.

"For trespassing on our holy site, you shall be sentenced to death!" a boy announced, slamming a quarterstaff against the ground. Unlike everyone, he appeared to be in his early teens and had a nice white beard to boot. Which, fitted all the requirements for being a leader of a group.

"Yeah!"

Elena took a deep breath, focusing on the leader. As much as she wanted to beat the snot out of him, now probably wasn't the best time to do that.

"We mean you people no harm." Elena explained, sheathing both of her daggers. "We aren't from around here and were just following some friends. One's a demonic satyr, while the other is this slime leviathan thing. Have you seen them?"

"Possibly." the boy answered, approaching the corsair. "We had thought they were legend."

"What do you mean?" Alice inquired, only for their host to clear his throat.

"Our story begins many years ago..." While the person babbled on, Delta snuck away.

"Well that was easy." Joey added, the faint outline of Polly and Aegiochusmon coming into view.

* * *

Next Time: We catch up with Polly and Aegiochusmon!


	30. Fate

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 30

Thanks for the memories

Aegiochusmon sighed.

He knew the rest of Delta was right behind him, not that neither of them really cared.

"How are you doing, my siren?" the harem mage inquired, making a quick glance at his partner. While Polly was still in her infusion state, she looked much calmer now.

"Roar."

"Good, there isn't much farther to go."

A large brick building quickly came into view, guarded by a single person. Like everyone else here, they appeared to be made from a mix of dead bodies. Unlike the other ones they had faced, this one in particular was actually wearing armor. In this case, just rusty iron plates and leather scraps that seemed just about ready to fall apart.

"Who goes there?" the guard announced as Aegiochusmon approached.

"We are not the people you're looking for." the harem mage announced, waving his left hand in front of their opponent.

"You're not the people we're loo-" before the guard could even finish their sentence, the members of Delta walked up. "Yes y-"

The guard was promptly knocked out and stowed in some nearby bushes. After, Aegiochusmon glared at his teammates. In retrospect, he probably should have duct-taped the door shut. Not that it would have really done anything to stop them, it would have only delayed them a little bit longer. He had never wanted this to spiral into this. But now, there was no turning back within this mess. They had known for quite a while, even if they had allowed it to drift into the back of their minds.

Reluctantly, Aegiochusmon opened the door and allowed everyone who could fit inside. Those too big for the door, would have to wait outside.

Compared to the monotone exterior that seemed to engulf this world, the interior was pretty much more of the same. Metallic walls of silver held them in, with a black tile floor possibly serving for contrast. A variety of panels and robot parts were strewn about, not that none of the chosen and their digimon were really aware of it. No, they were focusing upon a set of spotlights shining upon something in the middle of the room.

That something turned out to be the dead body of Usagi, the first complaints girl. She hung there nude, blood dripping out of both her slit wrists and breasts. Her eyes had been popped out, getting used as an additional noose. The rest of her body appeared mutilated, with not a single piece of smooth skin left untouched upon her.

To add even more fuel to this raging inferno, the killer left a nice little message behind.

To the "god" and his servants,

fuck all of you.

-The Angels

They stared at the message for a couple of seconds, only for their gazes to focus on what

There, a second girl was posed on her knees, possibly to attempting to collect the dripping blood. Unlike Usagi, she was dressed in the same school uniform from her last appearance, thirteen long chapters ago. Her mint green hair now appeared much more tattered, yet still managing to compliment her soulless green eyes.

Aegiochusmon took a deep breath, ignoring the tears falling down his face. He then walked over to girl #2, planting a kiss on her cheek as everyone gave him an "are-you-flipping-nuts" look. The harem mage only ignored them, eventually releasing his grip upon the girl. A blank card appeared, only for two of Aegiochusmon's cards to appear along with it. The two cards then shattered, followed by a couple of agonizing screams echoing throughout the room. Following that, the girl stared towards her "boyfriend", giving him a quick glance as he picked the new card up.

"You've returned." the girl whispered, only to walk over to the door and leave without saying anything else. The rest of Delta stood there, heading over to pay their respect to the dead girl. It was then, they left.

Outside, they found Gentleman cowering behind a tree as Polly and the new girl circled each other with an angry glare.

 **Watery Grave Blast!**

A blast of water shot out of Polly's mouth, only for the beam to seemingly miss her opponent.

 **Silence!**

A foot then slammed into the middle section of the sea serpent, knocking her into the ground. The beast then shattered, leaving Polly in the dirt.

"Who are you?" Polly inquired, dusting herself off. Her opponent only laughed, not even giving the monk any eye contact.

"Chacha." the assassin whispered, only to walk away from the group. Polly followed right behind, quickly grabbing hold of the girl. She then flung her into the building, making a slight imprint in the area above the door. "So that's how it's going to be then?"

 **Perception!**

Chacha glared intently at Polly, only for the opponent to still be able to move. A minute then passed, with nothing happe-

Before the author could finish his prior sentence, a large circle of white light engulfed Polly.

"Polly!" Aegiochusmon shouted, only to run into the laser. Inside, blinding light and immense heat immediately greeted him, bringing him back. Of the handful of times he had been hit by the stupid thing, he never remembered it being this devastating. Maybe it was the passing of time, maybe it was just luck. He took a deep breath and looked all around. While the beam wasn't that large, the light made it quite a bit harder. "Polly!"

A faint mumble echoed within the cylinder, giving him a slight bit of hope. He charged towards the voice, ignoring the heat and the light that only seemed to be growing at an intensifying rate.

There, Polly laid in a bloody heap. A majority of both her body and clothes was either scorched or greatly burned, with nothing left untouched.

Aegiochusmon quickly lifted her up, cradling her in his arms. Polly was all the harem mage had left now. If he lost her now, everything he had worked for would be a loss. The two made their way out of the beam in a quick yet steady manner, neither wanting this to be the end.

Outside, the rest of Delta ran up to them, ready to apply medical care. Afterwards, Chacha merely observed, watching the beam finally disappear. For as mad as she was with Aegiochusmon, he was probably her best option at the moment.

"One more round?"

Chacha turned around, only to receive a right hook from Polly. The assassin responded with a roundhouse kick, which missed Polly entirely.

What followed, was a long sparring match consisting of mostly punching and kicking. While neither of them really gained the advantage on the other, the two quickly learned each others fighting styles. After, they returned to the group, ready for the next challenge that awaited them.

.

In the distance, a man watches.

"Do you think we should make our appearance?" he whispers, waiting for a response.

"Possibly." his partner answers, pulling a walkie talkie out. "After all, Delta must die."

* * *

Notes:

Last chapter for a little bit, mostly so I can work rewriting this.

.

Next Time: I can't tell you! After all, it's a secret to everyone...


	31. Parents

DAO

Chapter 31

Parents

Aegiochusmon sighed.

A few minutes had passed since Polly and Chacha's sparring match, which still had no victor. By that point, his mind was on other things.

Ever since they had got there, he had the strange feeling that they were being watched. At first, it was hardly noticeable, just the occasional glance. As Delta ventured further into this mess of a place, said feeling seemed to be growing quite quickly.

"There you are!"

The group turned around, finding the kid from before standing there.

"What do you people want now?" Elena shouted, only for the boy and his group to just laugh.

"So, you thought you could just waltz away from our little story time, didn't you?"

The two stared at each other, both of them ready to strike the other down. A few seconds later, a large metal pole found its way into the guy's stomach. Following that, a bunch more of said poles appeared, creating a makeshift arena for them to fight in. Even then, all one needed to do was climb over the poles.

"Hello children."

After saying that, a man and a woman jumped down. The man was dressed simply, just an unbuttoned labcoat with a t-shirt and pants under was somehow complimented by his short black hair and blue eyes. The woman had opted for the same look, her outfit being complimented by long blonde hair and auburn eyes. Strangely, she was holding a shuriken in each hand.

"Mom, dad..." Polly started, only for Aegiochusmon to step in front of her.

 **Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!**

The beam of lava headed towards it's intended target, only to get blocked off by a shield.

"I'm back, motherfuckers!" Talos announced and did a bodybuilding pose. While he was doing that, Polly's mom threw a bunch of shuriken into the air.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

A howling twister shot out of Adarnamon's mouth, launching Elena and Lily into the air as everyone else watched on.

 **Yumi Shot!**

As the two reached the top of the cyclone, Lily fired a couple of arrows off. While a few hit their mark, most of them seemed to miss the throwing stars.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena dived towards the trio of opponents, only for them to just laugh.

"You could have just made this easy for us." the woman shouted, slamming her left foot into the corsair. "We were just here for our daughter."

Elena only rolled her eyes. Even if this woman really was Polly's mother, there seemed to be total disconnect between the two. For the moment though, she would have to focus her attention upon the ongoing fight.

 **Toxin Dive!**

Adarnamon followed her partner, slamming her talons into their opponent's arm. Green bubbles began to appear outside of the wound, only to have no effect upon it's victim.

 **Ghostflare!**

Alice fired off her left gun, watching the shot miss both targets. Strangely, this was followed by a shotgun blast from an unknown source.

 **Gobble Grenade!**

The turkey mobster lobbed a grenade up into the air and made a hand motion towards his partner in crime.

 **Hellfire!**

Astamon fired off a quick burst from his machine gun, the two watching as both attacks connected. What followed, was a much smaller explosion than expected, but damage nonetheless. Even then, the amount in question was quite miniscule.

"Our offer is still on the table, just so you know." Polly's Dad added, swatting Astamon away with a large metal pole. "But now, I believe it's time to turn the tables."

The man then charged towards them, stabbing the pole into his opponent and flung him to the side.

"Adrian, Lauren, enough of this." Aegiochusmon announced, releasing his grip on Polly. "You did something wrong and now, you shall be punished."

"Wrong?" Lauren whispered, only for the harem mage to slam his left hand into her throat and slammed her into the dirt. "We were just protecting her for the next gen-"

Before she could finish, Aegiochusmon gave her head a slight kick.

"Shut up, you fucking whore." he started, taking a deep breath. "I have walked across two worlds, taken down many strong opponents just even get my powers back, meet back up with both of my partners and atone for my sins. Now, you two want to take all that away as were mere feet away from the finish line?"

Adrian only made a quick glance towards the harem mage, making his way towards Polly.

"No."

Polly charged towards her father, unleashing a rapid flurry of punches upon him.

"I understand it now." she continued, throwing him into the ground. "I'm just a little tool to you three, aren't I? In that way, I know now who my family is."

"And who would that be?" Adrian shouted, only for his "daughter" to pull him out of the ground and throw him into a still posing Talos.

"Delta."

Talos then scraped Adrian's body off of him, only to laugh.

"You morons win this round." the angel explained as he cracked a cocky smile. "But, this isn't the last you'll see us. It will come, and when it does..."

The angel then teleported away, leaving Delta to their own devices.

"Uh... explanation?" Adarnamon started as Aaron walked up to Aegiochusmon, whispering something into the harem mage's ear. Reluctantly, Aegiochusmon nodded and the detective cleared his throat.

"Basically, Aegiochusmon and a whole bunch of people are part of this group that started this mess." As the detective explained that to Delta, Polly and Aegiochusmon sneaked away.

"Thanks, Aegiochusmon." Polly whispered, giving her partner a hug.

"In that case, you better have this." Aegiochusmon then handed over a plain gold pocketwatch. "It probably would be better for you to have this."

"Thanks."

Polly hung the device around her neck and the two returned to the group.

* * *

Notes:

First chapter with planned changes!

Next time: Sucide dolls, anyone?


	32. Growth through Pain

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 32

Growth through pain

"So now what?"

After Polly and Aegiochusmon returned, that was the question everyone was asking. In a way, that was understandable yet slightly rude.

"We go to the library." Chacha explained. "There, we can possibly get off of this wretched rock."

"Miss Cacha, care to elaborate?" Astamon answered, only for the girl to roll her eyes and sigh.

"Not really." Chacha answered, kicking the gangster in the balls.

 **Hellfire!**

Astamon unloaded a full drum upon the target, going full auto on Chacha. Chacha now laid in a pile of broken parts, still indifferent about all this.

"Good job, mate." Gobblemon added, pulling a trench knife out. "I guess it's my turn to be the goon to the boss."

Alice then slapped the turkey as Chacha's many pieces came back together. Which, everyone accepted as normal for some reason.

"Thank the bitch." Aegiochusmon added, only for the robot to slap him. "Or the time traveler, perhaps."

They then headed off, the monotone facade of this world finally giving into the idea of color. In this case, that meant large patches of roses and the occasional section of grass. Eventually, a large building quickly towered over of them, possibly ready to eat them all up. A pungent scent of rotting guts and gore filled the air, unwavering in its mission to not go away. Nonetheless, they headed over to the door and pushed it open.

Inside, they were greeted by an avalanche of books and dust. Even then, the place didn't look that bad. Other than the one knocked down at the entrance, the other couple thousand bookshelves held within this one section were still upright.

Aaron ran over to the nearest bookshelf in quite a hurry. When he got there, he found nothing but nondescript books with mostly blank pages. Strangely, a black shield with a sword and a wand locked in combat was stamped on the last page. The detective then walked back, wondering the possible meaning of this.

"What's your problem now, detective?" Aegiochusmon joked, only for the book to be thrown into his face.

"Care to explain all these copies of 'The Wholebear 42'?" Aaron answered, only for Aegiochusmon to blast it away.

"Brazen, the drogaciji are." Chacha added, sternly glaring at both Elena and Lily. "Thinking they could steal all our priceless books without us noticing..."

"What? Neither she or I were around when they did this." Lily answered, pulling her yumi out.

 **Silence!**

The robot stepped out of the way, just about ready to run over and kick the plushie into the air.

 **Yumi Shot!**

The succubus then fired her bow off, watching as the two attacks collided with each other.

"Are you two happy now?" Elena responded, only for both fighters to sigh.

"Sure."

"I guess."

Finally, the rest of Delta maneuvered their way out of the mess of the entrance, allowing for a further examination of the room. Stone walls towered over them, complimenting the matching floor. Even with the light sound of footsteps as the only noise within the area, the room seemed way too quiet. After the couple hundred years of solitude, one would have expected to find some sign of life. At the same time, each step brought the scent to a much greater intensity than the last whiff.

"E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-explanation?" Cutemon stuttered, managing to get the attention of Delta.

"You really don't want to know." Chacha answered, putting the little rabbit on her shoulders. "It's better smelling and not knowing, than smelling and know it."

"Is it fixable?"

Chacha stared down at the ground, taking a deep breath.

"Depends."

Cutemon looked back at his master, confused by Chacha's remark. Normally, these sort of things had a clear solution.

Bad guy destroyed your village? Team up with a human and possibly find the culprit.

Weird cat beast attempting to kill you? Powers of friendship, activate!

Nearly dead? Get healed!

But here, this didn't seem to be the case. Whatever problem the Mahora trio had created for themselves, it must have been quite big. Before the rabbit could further inquire on the issue, a loud roar finally penetrated the silence.

"Who dares enter the library?!"

A large fireball locked onto them, only to somehow miss and slam into a nearby bookcase.

"I and the members of Delta!" Gentleman announced, getting a fireball to the face. "In retrospect, I probably deserved that."

"Let me handle this." Tsukaimon added, flying towards the voice. "At the very least, got any tea?"

"What are you expecting? That this truly awesome voice is somehow coming from one super awesome British guy?"

*You realize no one is going to get that joke?*

A loud sigh echoed throughout the room, not all caring for the 'disembodied voice'.

"I was going let you guys pass peacefully and all but now..."

Fire began to rain down upon them, setting everything ablaze. As such, they did the most logical thing for this sort of situation. Run towards the angry pyromaniac. Because you know, since all of them have somehow every fire drill in school by some strange coincidence. Nonetheless, they did eventually stop, drop and roll. After they killed the unknown threat of course.

"You could have told us about that earlier!" Adarnamon shouted and pecked at Aegiochusmon's head. The harem mage then slapped the canary away, only for the digimon to return and peck a few more times for good measure.

"If these guys gave out all the answers, where would the adventure be?" Joey answered, turning his attention towards the group. Delta currently stood at the back end of the current room, facing a hallway leading much deeper into this forsaken hall of knowledge and magic. Like the previous room, the design scheme was carried through, even if an extremely thick layer of dust covered every possible inch of this room.

"Man, this makes that cabin we stayed in look neat." Aaron remarked, only to get silence from his friends. Their gazes then focused on a massive door at the back of the building. Compared to everything else they had just conquered, this seemed to be the source of the nasty smell.

"Any thing else you care to mention to us about this place?" Alice inquired, only for Aegiochusmon to sigh.

"Nope." the harem mage answered, staring towards the floor. Alice's then shifted onto him. "What?'

"Judging by your expression, your 100% lying."

Aegiochusmon only sighed, finally looking towards the speaker. There was no turning back now. After running for so long, the harem mage would finally be able to mix this mess he inadvertently caused.

The chosen then headed off, quickly making their way over to the door. The obstacle towered over everyone, taunting them in a way.

"They've returned!"

"Took them fucking long enough."

"Open the stupid door now!"

Everyone looked towards Aegiochusmon and Polly, possibly wondering if they knew these people. The duo stared back, just as confused as they were. They quickly pulled the door opened, only for the Aegiochusmon to stop them.

 **Pylóna tou Ádi (Pillar of Hades)!**

A large pillar formed before Aegiochusmon, only to get slammed down in front of both doors.

"Just in case." he whispered, taking a deep breath as he helped boost his teammates over the obstacle. He joined them last, stepping into the final room.

Unlike the past two rooms, this one actually seemed livable. Well, if there weren't any body parts strewn about the area. Standing in the middle of said room, was a teenage girl around Elena's age. She was dressed in a holey black cloak, with parts of a green sundress showing through at time. A black cat plush hung by her waist, covered in dried pink blood.

"What were you expecting?" the girl announced, pulling a bloody baseball bat out and dropped the plush to the ground. "This is what you people get for not asking questions."

The members of Delta stared blankly at her, unsure of what the hell she was even talking about.

"You can call me Usagi Renja."

Aegiochusmon rolled his eyes, making his way over to Polly. The monk only stood there, ready to take this unknown threat on,

"And I believe we have unfinished business, Akira Okichi."

Polly only sighed, stepping towards her opponent.

"Let's finish this." she whispered, only for Chacha to jump in front of her.

 **Perception!**

The large beam slammed into Usagi, not even making a scratch upon her. All it really did, was reveal a spectating Valia, Chaos and Chibi. Who really weren't supposed to be there.

"Let us begin, shall we?" Usagi announced, slamming her bat into the ground.

Polly then charged towards Usagi, taking a deep breath. Her training, meeting Aegiochusmon once again, joining Delta and returning to Mahora, were all leading up to this. Before, Usagi probably beat her to death. But now, the tables have turned in her favor.

"Concentrate." she thought, looking Usagi in the eye. Her opponent wildly swung her weapon all about, no rhyme or reason with each swing. Polly only ducked and dodged, eventually pulling her left arm back. All it would take was one blow to finish this.

 **Mermaid's Droplet!**

Polly slammed her fist into the opponent, grabbing hold of Usagi. The monk then twirled the girl around and threw her to the southwest, a loud pop echoing throughout the area.

"You win this time." Usagi answered, turning her attention to the three intruders. "But I won as well."

"So be it." the monk magi answered, making a quick glance at her arm. Instead of flesh of blood, an equivalent of slime and magical energy had taken it's place. Polly cautiously moved it around, making sure this wasn't some kind of trap.

A portal then formed at the back of the room. The members of Delta only stood there, unsure what to do.

"Go on heroes." Chaos explained, her gaze focusing on the corrupted assistant.

"Good luck, Delta." Valia added as she watched them head through. "May luck be eternally on your side."

The trio then teleported away, ironically leaving Usagi's fate up to the author.

* * *

Notes:

The last part of the chapter wasn't the original plan. But, I prefer this a whole lot more.

Along with that, Polly's new arm was inspired by the karma arm from the Submachine series.

.

Next Time: I'm free, free falling...


	33. Crossroads

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 33

Crossroads

Falling.

Almost always, this seemed to be the first action one did when they entered a new dimension/world.

Currently, the members of Delta found themselves doing exactly that. Somehow, this somehow didn't stop them from engaging in some activities for the meantime.

"A-a-a-a-are you alright?" Cutemon whispered, examining Polly's arm. While the monk magi was capable of using it quite proficiently, the appendage made no sense from a medical standpoint. It was probably had something to do with magic, even if the rabbit had no clue how to test that theory.

"Yeah, it seems so strange." Polly whispered, moving her new arm around some more. "Maybe that has to do with magic or just possibly the sheer amount of power I had put into that one blow."

Aegiochusmon and Chacha glided over, both of them now covered with oily splotches.

"We were just doing stuff." Aegiochusmon started, only for a manga book to fall out from his left knee pad and possibly killing a person on the ground. "Well crud."

Chacha only laughed, patting the harem mage's shoulder.

"Come on, we'll land eventually." the robot explained, her gaze focusing on Polly. "So, how are you feeling?"

Polly tossed the robot away from her, only for it glide back over to the trio.

"How much farther?" Adarnamon inquired, only to slam into the ground. The rest of them landed far less spectacularly, actually landing instead of slamming into the ground.

Like Mahora, the ground was going for a monotone color scheme. Unlike the wayward school for harem mages, everything else actually had color. Even if that appeared to be just brown and gray.

Currently, they found themselves in one of a small town full of tiny houses made of stone and wood. A bunch of cutemon were scattered in a bloody heap all around town, their bodies just pincushions. A pair of gravestones had been erected in the middle of the area, their owners unknown.

"Just great." Cutemon thought, falling to his knees as tears began to roll down his eyes. "Of all the places we could have gone, it just had to be here..."

While the rabbit had long lost track of how much time had passed since he had left this place, the memories were still quite fresh in his mind. Images of arrows raining down upon countless people flooded back, bringing nothing but pain and sorrow.

Cutemon then collapsed to the ground, only for Aaron to come over and comfort him.

"It'll be alright, bud." Aaron explained, patting his partner's back. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

"Are you sure about that?"

A flashbang then went off, knocking them all unconscious.

When they awoke, Aaron laid comatose on the ground.

"Good, you're awake."

Their gazes honed in on the voice, which turned out to be Talos. His gaze was focused on just Lily, the rest of them nonexistent in his eyes.

"What about Jestery?"

Everyone turned to the right, finding the jester off in a corner and eating a pizza. Even then, it was one of those nice deluxe pizzas cut into arrow-shaped pieces.

"Please leave." Elena remarked, only for the jester to teleport away and the group returned their gaze to their 'captor'. "As you were saying?"

"Right." Talos answered, clearing his throat. "We have a murder mystery on our hands, with the culprit among us."

Everyone just stared at him, totally confused by this recent statement.

"Are you sure you're doing this whole 'villain' thing right?" Alice inquired, only for Talos to roll his eyes. "I could bet money on the fact you're not our enemy."

"How can you be so sure? After all, I could be just holding back..."

Alice pulled her left pistol out and fired, everyone watching as the bullet slammed into the angel's helm.

*You know something, don't you?" Alice announced, a smile forming on her face. "After all, why do you keeping following us?*

Talos didn't respond, charging towards the gambler. Alice only stepped out of the way and allowed her opponent to slam into the graves.

"Because I'm the bad guy!"

Alice only rolled her eyes and laughed, firing both of her guns off.

"Kid, this isn't Wreck-it Ralph.*

Astamon and Gobblemon then ran up to her.

 **Celestial Shower!**

A storm of arrows headed towards the trio, Alice now holding both of her pistols out.

 **Ghostflare!**

She then fired her right pistol, watching the bullet curve around her target. A shotgun blast then rang out, signaling that the attack worked.

"And to think, I nearly broke your back when we first met."

The gambler only laughed, ready to do something she hadn't been able to do in quite a while.

 **Alice infusion digivolve too... NekoGamblermon!**

For once, she had a chance to not fuck this up. As such, she did the natural thing for her.

 **Card of Chance!**

Alice drew the top card of her deck, breathing a sigh of relief. It was the five of spades, which had the picture of an incredibly drunk guy. Afterwards, Talos now seemed to stagger about and looked just about ready to throw up. The gambler made a quick glance at her pocketwatch, finding it now ticking.

"Ready to take this to the next level?* Alice inquired, only for both digimon to nod.

 **Astamon infusion digivolve too... Yokozamon!**

 **Gobblemon infusion digivolve too... Consligmon!**

In the place of the jackal man, now stood a large anthropomorphic Yak dressed in a large yellow kimono. On his back, was a minigun.

For Gobblemon however, a shadow was all that remained. Even then, you could just faintly make out a turkey pretending to be a spy.

 _Scanning..._

 **Yokozamon**

 **Ultimate, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Overkill, Charging Strike,**

 **.**

 **Alice: Isn't one of those moves from Aegiochusmon?**

 **Yokozamon: Yes, not that anyone would care.**

 **Aegiochusmon: Hey!**

 **Consligmon**

 **Champion, Vaccine**

 **Special Moves: Dark Info, Conslig Special**

 **.**

 **Consligmon: What? Were now doing my analyzer entry?**

 **The author: Technically.**

 **Consligmon: Huh?**

 **The author: I know. It'll be fixed eventually.**

 **Consligmon: It better be.**

 _Scan Complete._

*Now that's what I'm talking about!" Alice shouted, her smile growing even larger. As that happened, 'Run Around' from the Digimon Adventure and 02 dubs began to play.

 **Conslig Special!**

The shadowy turkey pulled a moonshine jar out, lobbing it towards the drunken opponent.

 **Overkill!**

Yokozamon then pulled his minigun off his back and fired, watching as the two attacks collided and created a small explosion in the vicinity of Talos.

 **Ghostflare!**

Alice unloaded a full clip upon the angel, listening to each shotgun blast with a sense of pride.

"U wen thos rund..." Talos slurred, only to drunkenly teleport away. After, the gambler reverted back as the gazes of her teammates focused on her.

"S-s-s-s-so, who did this?" Cutemon inquired, only for Alice to sigh and pat his back.

"Lily did this." Alice whispered as Lily just stood there.

 **Supersonic Wave!**

Cutemon then screamed, his gaze focusing right on plush.

"How dare you!" the rabbit announced, still getting no response from Lily. "Did you even give a single utmost care about all those lives you slaughtered that day?!"

Lily only sighed, continuing to stand like a statue.

"I've only made two mistakes I ever regretted." she started, finally staring back towards her accuser. "And this is the second one."

* * *

Notes:

So, the first two chapters of DAO have now been edited by yours truly. While some stuff has changed, it still mostly the same events.

Start of a new arc! Whoo!

If you enjoyed this, please review. It really does help me out.

.

Next Time: Mindfuck backstory time!


	34. The Untitled Chapter

I don't digimon.

* * *

It all must begin with me. -Agnes, Bravely Default

* * *

Session 34

Untitled and Forgotten

Lily took another deep breath.

The past was a funny thing for her. Unlike a majority of characters in the digitalverse that didn't have such a thing, she somehow did. And yet, the plush envied them to extreme extent.

After all, some things are just better left unknown to even yourself than to know the truth of it. But, were getting ahead of ourselves. Our story begins in 2267...

She stood in the parking lot, waiting.

That day, the succubus had decided upon a black trenchcoat and a wide brimmed fedora. While not the preferred way she wanted to be seen, it was the only thing she could do at the moment.

"I'm guessing you're my ride."

Lily turned around, finding a boy dressed in a gray t-shirt and pants. To go with his quite typical, was a pair of blue eyes and some short blonde hair.

"Yep." the boy answered. "What's your name?"

"Lily." the succubi whispered, slightly curious of her 'cabbie'. "What's yours?"

"Blade."

Blade then led them over to a large motorcycle that seemed quite out of place for the time period we're going for. The two got on and headed off. As they did, a missile streaked right over their heads.

"Hey!"

The two made a quick glance behind them, finding a large armored vehicle behind them. Standing on said vehicle, was a green humanoid creature hellbent on killing them. Lily pulled her yumi out and cocked the arrow back, possibly attempting to actually aim properly. She then fired the projectile off, watching it land cleanly into the target.

"Nice shot." Blade remarked, only to jump from his vehicle and onto the opponent's. There, he pulled a pair of shinkens out and gave the monster a good ass-whupping. While he was doing that, Lily was continuing to fire arrows off at the nuisance.

"I don't remember this fight going like this at all!" the creature announced, receiving a face full of arrows as his reward. Blade then jumped off and left their opponent to his fate.

"I guess that works?" Lily added and Blade laughed.

"That is how some days are." Blade answered, speeding the bike up. "You just got to keep fighting."

The rest of the trip passed like a dream, with the two soon finding themselves at the entrance of a large mushroom shaped building.

"We're here." she whispered, jumping off the bike and headed inside.

Unlike the dark outside, bright candlelight welcomed them in. That, along with dark oak walls and floors actually made it seem like a possible home.

"Nice place, I guess." Blade added, as the two headed towards the back of the building. An open hatch awaited them, calling to them head through it. The duo jumped down and found themselves in a large cobweb. "See, it's like I said earlier."

Lily only sighed, firing her yumi off once more. The arrow flew through the air, only to eventually collide with something within the dark.

"Wh-h-h-h-ho goes th-h-h-h-here?"

A couple sets of red eyes pierced then pierced through the darkness within the room.

"Us." Lily weakly answered as a long white string headed towards her. The succubi then fired a couple of arrows off, watching as her projectiles pierced through the eyes of the beast. Blade followed it up with a couple of slashes from his shinkens, making sure the monster was actually dead and not pretending to be in a sleeping state.

"That'll do it." Blade added, the two deciding to just stand there. The darkness then faded, revealing a simple tome. The only discernible thing was three words printed on the cover.

The Digital Tome

Lily headed towards the book at full speed. Had she known, she would have just left the book behind for some other moron. But, curiosity got the best of her.

After picking it up, everything became a blur of heat and arrows with some nausea thrown in for good measure.

"Where am I?" she thought, the nausea and memory scrambling finally going away. Lily was currently laying in a small village, with a large amount of corpses strewn around the succubus. Her hands and yumi were engulfed in pink of the dead, each drop a reminder of what she had done. The book sat to her left, a bloody hand now stamped below the title. "What have I done?"

She placed her hand back on the book, everything beginning to swirl around once more and her vision went dark.

When it finally stopped, the succubus found herself not in the futuristic town. Instead, a small warm room had taken it's place. And yet, the wooden walls and carpeted floor did nothing to comfort her.

"You're awake!"

Lily stared upwards, finding a young girl staring back at her. The child looked quite average, just a dark blue t-shirt and jeans complimented by purplish brown hair and amber eyes.

"Uh... hi?" Lily whispered, only for the girl to perk up.

"Anna, the plush spoke!"

"Plush?"

She made a quick glance down at herself and froze.

Her old body was gone, having been replaced with one of cloth and an unknown stuffing. The tome sat right beside her,

"Are you sure, Elaine?"

"Yes, I'm sure!"

'Elaine' then walked up to Lily with a second girl joining her. Unlike girl #1, Anna was dressed in a gray dress with white hair and red eyes. Unlike her friend, she seemed to care less about the plush.

"Hi?" Lily greeted, only for Elaine to pick her up.

"Hello!" Elaine then smiled, handing the succubus over to Anna.

"Oh, it's some sort of plush thing." Anna added, throwing Lily against the wall and walked away.

"Ow." she whispered, pulling herself away from the wall. She then walked over to the tome, only to be picked up by Elaine once more.

"Going so soon?"

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Yes, my 'friend'." Lily whispered and was placed back down. Elaine then held her hand out, waiting for her friend to do something.

"Promise me we'll see each other again." Elaine whispered and Lily reluctantly shook her hand.

"I promise I'll meet you again." the succubus answered and touched the tome once more. With that, her journey finally began. Sometimes she would have her old body, other times it was the smaller plush body. Occasionally, she would run into one of the alternate versions of her teammates but never Elaine. With each trip, her memories only became even more jumbled-up and contradicting. Yet, that didn't stop her from continuing this practice. Until the end of the fifteenth cycle that is.

In a way, it started like all other trips the succubus had taken. Lily would appear in the world, figure out what was going on, do something and then leave.

It was in the first step where everything fell apart. Instead finding herself in Odiaba ward of Minato, the succubi was in sort of pristine white lab.

"What do we have here?"

Before she could find the source of the voice, a collar was snapped around her neck. Everything now looked lifeless and dead, which made the lab look quite the same.

"Now hold still. I just need to take a little sample." the voice explained, sticking a syringe into the 'slave' as the succubus blacked out.

When she did awake for the umpteenth time, two clones of her hovered by her sides. Below them, a group of people had gathered.

"So now what?" Lily whispered and got a shock from the collar. Her 'orders' were clear now as the world around her went all monotone. The trio of succubi then dived towards her target, only for both to clones to be easily taken down. Clone #1 was crushed to death by a large bat creature, while Clone #2 had her head smashed in with a baseball bat.

That left the original one, who was too occupied in getting a piece of candy from the group's leader, a teenage girl.

"You want a piece?" the leader inquired, holding out a sweet for the succubus to have.

"Yes, yes, yes!" Lily answered and looked just about ready to snatch it away from the bargainer. A couple of times, she had jumped

"Then you have to help us."

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes. She didn't have a choice in this. In retrospect, she should have just walked away and moved onto the next timeline. In a way it was the unofficial third mistake. The group quickly got together, some plot stuff occurred and the deed was completed.

"Finally." she thought, placing her hand on the book. Everything began to swirl around, only for it all to go white. "Where am I?"

"It's a funny story." a voice explained.

Lily turned around and found a figure cloaked in green standing before her.

"First off, who are you and second, why am I here?!"

The figure then grabbed hold of her and ripped the collar.

"You'll learn my name when the time comes." the person explained, dropping Lily to the floor. "All you need to know is that you're between the two realms."

Lily stared at the figure, just about ready to flip out upon her.

"Are we seriously going with that for our solution to me having the digital tome?!" Lily shouted, only for the other person to laugh. She made a quick glance down at herself, finding the tome gone.

"Yes, that is the fucking solution we're going with."

Lily rolled her eyes once more. After, a claymore pierced through her body and the succubi slumped to the ground.

She opened her eyes.

Gone was the featureless void, with a pillar in a dark room taking over. The only thing of interest, was a teenage girl with purplish brown hair and amber eyes...

"And that was when I met Elena." Lily explained and finally wrapped up her long-winded backstory.

"At the very least, it wasn't predictable?"

"What the fuck?"

"Could you have made that explanation anymore complicated?"

"Jestery's head hurt."

Everyone made a quick glance over at Jestery, who now had a shark sticking out of her head.

"You had to taunt the dark blades, didn't you?"

Aaron laughed and pulled the sea creature off of her head. Afterwards, the omega then teleported away. Lily then took a deep breath and approached the left grave. The succubi then dug down into it, only to hit a hard object.

'Here it is!" she whispered, pulling a weathered tome out. A few seconds later, a flash of light overrode their visions. With this flash though, something different happened. Their old memories seemed to be blended up, only to get combined with a new set of yet-to-be-filled memories. With that, a surge of power coursed through their body.

A few seconds later, their vision returned. While everything looked the same, something felt different.

"Put your hands in the air!"

A large armored vehicle then drove up to them, with the large green humanoid standing upon it. The creature was dressed like a police officer, even if probably didn't know a single thing about how to do such a job. A large group of police officers now encircled them.

"Surprised, aren't you?"

The members of Delta then looked up, finding Talos floating above them.

"Some days are just going to be like that..."

* * *

Notes:

I didn't plan for that chapter to go as long as it did. Oh well.

Yes, I know this chapter is a bit of a mess. Being sick does that at times.

And finally, we're now in the seventeenth cycle! I realize it's quite early to pull that, but I'm confident this time around about what will go down in Tri episodes 5-8.

.

Next Time: Outlaws we sometimes are.


	35. Outlaws

Session 35

The Taximan

Officer EMT took a deep breath.

He didn't really want to be back here after so long, but that was how life works some days. There weren't any breaks, the pay was absolute shit and no job benefits, but the troll was fine with that. As a taxi driver/internet cop, one had to always expect some sort of surprise to be around the corner.

He turned his attention to the members of Delta. By his math, they were the third generation of heroes to 'appear' from this line. Compared to what remained from 'Alpha' and their predecessors, they weren't doing half bad.

"They might even have a chance." EMT thought and laughed. "So please author, don't do what you did to Alpha."

The troll got no response, which he had kind of expected from the author. He really couldn't remember the last time the author had talked back to his characters. It almost seemed to be a myth in a way, up there with the possibility of an alternate earth being proven through some stray cat hairs. But EMT was getting ahead of himself. For now, EMT was just going to watch. They could be any worse than their predecessors were.

He started his viewing with their leader, well he guessed that who she was. She was Elena Yuliana, 'student' at Drogaciji Academy. While he had met her parents, it had been a long time ago. She seemed to be fighting with a pair of pie cutters, but that probably wasn't it. Other than that, there wasn't anything that special about her. The same could be said about the bird, even if did slightly remind him of the girl's father personal bird. The other partner was a different story.

Lily. In a way, it felt so weird to see her after so long. While the plush succubi was dressed differently from before and looked a little bit smaller, she still fought the same as before.

"Has it really been that long?" he thought and sighed. Of anything EMT hated about his job, it was always have part from those who's company he had enjoyed. Like the girl on her way home from a big battle. He and his passenger had just went to a convenience store to get a 'couple' of drinks. It was here their paths had crossed and where he got his ass kicked by a girl. Good times, indeed.

With them out of the way, he moved onto the second girl. Unlike Elena, she seemed overdressed for the occasion. There even seemed to be air of phoniness to her.

 **Spiritflare!**

A single bullet shot out of the girl's twin pistols and into an angel, only for the target to be pelted with buckshot. For as much as he wanted to arrest her for her sheer phoniness, this was trumped by her truly awesome power. It reminded him of another girl that was just as overdressed as she was. He was just about to arrest her too, only to face a quick and swift defeat. This happened twice at least, with both incidents occurring with the same girl.

Thankfully, her partners weren't anything that interesting. Just a large Yak and the faint outline of a turkey. While that did seem like a weird combination of partners, their master seemed to make it work.

"Hey!" Officer EMT turned around, finding Talos now standing before him. "Aren't you going help me take them down?"

EMT didn't even turn to give his attention to the angel. He had known the man underneath once, but things had changed greatly. While neither of them considered the other a friend, they didn't hold any grudges. An air of hostility seemed to hang in the air as he stood there.

"Are you even listening?!" Talos shouted as EMT pulled his rocket launcher out. While the troll didn't want to go through with it, he kind of had no other choice in this situation. A shame in the way.

"I'm sorry, Blade." EMT whispered and pulled the trigger. The rocket immediately shot out, knocking Talos back a couple yards. "Some days, you must take the hard path in order to make things right."

The troll then turned his attention towards the other angels goons and reloaded his weapon.

"Let's do this."

Officer EMT then pointed his rocket launcher towards the ground and fired, launching himself up into the air. The troll followed it up with an aerial volley of rockets towards his targets. At least now, he could enjoy the view of Alternis v2 and observe the other members of this team.

Their member appeared to be a teenage boy with some sort of shadow powers. There was always one darkness-based member, whether it be lolita-blackgatomon-slime girl, that void mage from the dead universe and that crazy Gallantmon to name a few. At the very least, he was changing it up by using a staff instead of a sword or a gun. His partners were slightly more unique, being a purple pig and the digimon equivalent of a DIY action figure gone wrong. Other than that, they seemed to have a good balance of attack and defense.

 **Perception!**

A large beam of light engulfed EMT, seeming to do small bits of damage.

"Master, I got the loud annoying green thing!" a mechanical voice announced as a sword blade shot out from his assailant's left arm. "Now what should I do with him?"

Her master did not answer, leaving the robot slightly confused.

"You must be Chacha, then?" EMT inquired and strapped his launcher to his back. He then pulled a pudding cup out and showed it to his possible opponent. "Want a bite?"

 **Glacal Spike!**

Chacha's arm blade now seemed to give off a dull blue tint, which she then used to slam EMT into the ground.

"Robots don't eat pudding cups!" the robot shouted as she stood over her opponent. "I'm not sure in what reality that they do, but here they don't!"

EMT smiled and pulled a grey cylinder out. "Now, for my next trick..."

The troll then flung the object up into the air and pulled a pair of kukri's out, slamming both blades into the object. He watched as it flew through the air and hit Talos right in the privates. Having gotten his butt kicked on multiple occasions by his customers, it felt kind of nice to turn the tables. Talos's gaze immediately focused in on him, ready to tear him into a million pieces. And yet, EMT didn't really care that much. For once in what seemed like forever, EMT didn't feel that lonely. All these people he could get to learn and all the stories he would be able to tell them. The troll couldn't just let this one angel just destroy these people. So, he would join their cause and fight with them to the very end.

"Are you fine with this?" EMT whispered and waited for a response from an unknown person. After a few minutes of waiting, he took a deep breath and smiled. "Good, I'll do my best."

He turned his attention towards the members of Delta and walked over to Aaron.

"Care if I join you guys?" he inquired as everyone turned to face him. "Even though we've already gone through this once."

Their leader almost immediately perked up, seeming quite happy to have a new member for the group. Everyone else seemed to have quite the same reaction, well minus you-know-who.

"Well, catch me if you can!" Talos announced and flew away. If they had wanted too, Delta could have probably caught him. But instead, they allowed the angel to just get away. Not that would change anything in the grand timeline of this multiverse. But you know, priorities.

"Hey! Don't count us out yet!" EMT announced and pulled a clicker out. He gave it a slight tap as everyone watched a large armored truck tear through an entire city block just to reach them. When it finally did arrive, the members of Delta piled in. EMT came on last and sat himself down in the driver's seat.

"We have a bunch of miles to drive to reach Talos. We got a full tank of gas, half a pack of gum, it's almost noon and were not wearing sunglasses."

"Just hit it." Aaron shouted and EMT started the vehicle up...

* * *

Notes:

Personally, I prefer the new version of this chapter over the old one. At the very least, it isn't a string of attacks with very little story thrown in.

Other than that, I hoped you enjoyed the exposition for Officer EMT.

.

Next Time: The flip side of the coin...


	36. Flip Side

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 36

Flip Side

Talos cursed under his breath.

He should have known this was a bad idea. And yet, here he was doing it just. Some things never did change no matter how long you lived.

"I can't let them get to me." the angel thought, making a quick glance behind him. While his opponents hadn't caught up to him yet, they were probably closing the gap quite fast. "No time like the present."

Back then, things were different.

There were no factions, no dimensional beings and no overarching story to deal with at all. He was human named Blade then, not the robot monstrosity without a master.

This mess began like every other day. He had woken up, gotten dressed and ate breakfast while watching futuristic rip-offs of popular anime from the 2000's within his decent looking apartment. While the cream colored walls and gray carpet weren't anything special, but they achieved their purpose.

To most people, a letter was just a letter. For Blade however, it was anything but. Nearly all communication was done digitally in his time, leaving the few written requests a big deal to him.

He had been a slayer, which was pretty much what it sounded like. He slayed monsters for people who were too incompetent to deal with them on their own.

"Time to get started." he thought and opened the letter up. Inside, a pale piece of paper with some writing on it awaited his reading.

Dear Slayer,

I need your assistance dealing with some creatures. Please meet at the Micdonalds as soon as possible.

While there wasn't a name at the end of the letter, it didn't really matter. He had a job now, which was the main thing he needed to focus on for the moment.

Blade then grabbed his shinkens and headed out the door of his apartment, making his way down to the parking garage.

Compared to his apartment, the parking garage was what one expected such an area to be. Gray and monotone of course. Nonetheless, he made his way over to his motorcycle and got on.

The open road welcomed him in, easing his worries a little bit. Even among all the hovercars and hoverbikes, his vehicle didn't seem that out of place. Not that anyone even looked down to see if he was even there. No, they were usually more focused on the skyscrapers around them then the long abandoned roads below. Not that it really made much a difference to him in the long run, having grown so used to it ever since he had gotten the job.

"That's just how some days are." he thought and turned left into the parking lot of 'Not McDonalds'.

There, the second piece of this puzzle falls into place in the form of Lily. Even if he had known what she truly was, he still probably would have taken the job.

The angel took a deep breath.

His opponents still were a quite a bit out, leaving him a bit more time to continue his trip down memory lane.

There, the two had their first magical encounter with each other.

"Hi, I'm Blade." he greeted and got off his vehicle.

"Lily." she had answered quietly and messed with her cloak. "I'm guessing you're my ride."

"Yep."

The two then got on Blade's vehicle and headed off once more. It was here, that the third and final piece comes into play, in the form of Officer EMT.

Many times he had faced the troll down, each battle ending in a draw. Mind you, that was from his handful of encounters with the troll. Usually, the idiot just slammed through something in an attempt to kill both him and Lily. But I digress.

It was on this lonesome highway where they encountered Officer EMT and his armored vehicle.

"You two are under arrest!" Officer EMT announced, pointing his missile launcher towards the two and fired. The missile streaked through the air, only to suddenly focus in on the two.

"I'll handle it." Blade explained and jumped onto the much larger vehicle, pulling his shinkens out in the process. While he did that, Lily shot her gigantic bow off towards the oncoming missile.

"How many times are we going to do this, before you realize the truth?" Officer EMT accused, pulling his kukris out. "She has been gone for a long time."

Blade only ignored him, proceeding to slam his shinkens into the monster.

"It's just one of those days." he thought, only for Lily's arrow to slam into the missile. "Good work, Lily."

He then jumped off the vehicle, somehow managing to land back on his motorcycle.

"Nice shot." he added, only to retake control of the motorcycle from Lily.

"Thanks." she answered and the two headed on.

The rest of the trip passed like a distant memory, with nothing of much interest happening amid the ruined and desolate streets. Eventually, they made a turn left, finding themselves at a large building that looked like either a giant fungus or a lamp.

"This is the place." Lily remarked and Blade stopped the bike.

"Are you sure?" Blade answered, only for Lily to nod. The two then got off the bike and headed into the building.

Inside, it what was one expect a mushroom-shaped building to have. It was dry, with rotting wood walls and a marshy floor. Not that it really seemed to interest the two of them, who were currently making their way towards the back part of the area. There, an open hatch awaited their entry, greeting them with darkness on the other end.

"Who goes there?!" a voice announced, only for a long white thread to grab hold of Lily.

"We do." Blade responded and charged towards the beast, slamming both his shinkens into the creature.

"Time and time again, we dance this dance." the creature whispered, almost ignoring its attacker. "Only to get the same result."

Before she continue on, Blade slashed the monsters head off and freed Lily.

"Thanks." Lily remarked, only to run towards the far end of the room. She picked up the digital tome once more. After, everything went white as reality returned to Talos.

"There he is!"

Officer EMT's armored vehicle then rolled up, with the members of Delta and their digimon on the roof. No scratch that. It was more of an assortment of actual digimon and 'paper digimon' per a say. Not that it really changes anything per a say, it still kind of interesting to think about.

"Hey!" Chacha announced and flipped the open sky off. Lily then made a quick glance towards her, not at all amused by the gynoid's antics. "What?"

Lily only sighed.

"Can you please try not to make this situation any worse than it already is?"

"What do you mean?"

Elena made a quick glance towards the two and rolled her eyes. As much as she wanted to be the one to take the angel down, this was Lily and Officer EMT's fight to finish. Anyone else and it would have lost all meaning for them and make all of this completely pointless in the long run.

"Everyone ready to do this?" Officer EMT inquired, only to receive nods from everyone. "Good. Considering we're finishing this in a single blow."

The chosen and their digimon stared at the police officer, wondering if the troll had gone mad. Afterwards, he pulled a body out, which appeared to be cocooned in duct tape and landmines. Officer EMT then flung the body a couple hundred yards out in front of the vehicle and then handed everyone a pair of sunglasses.

"Let's do this." Lily whispered, only to get onto Officer EMT's back. There was no turning back from this, for this was their one and only shot. It was now or never, with the time to turn back long gone. "For it is now to to end this once and for all.

The armored vehicle then hit the explosives, getting launched up into the air. As the large vehicle reached the climax of it's flight, Officer EMT fired his missile launcher off at the roof of his vehicle, launching the two into the air.

"I guess there truly is no going back, is there?" Lily thought and glided through the air, pulling the string of her yumi back. In the end, it would be the slayer trusted most that would be his downfall.

Talos only watched on, a realization.

If this was what fate had in store for him, so fucking be it. In a way, he probably deserved this.

The arrow quickly came into view, only for Talos to disengage his helmet.

Tonight seemed like as good as any night to finally let this end. The arrow quickly reached its desired mark and the angel fell over, a smile forming on his face.

As that happened, Officer EMT and the armored vehicle managed to land safely with everyone not breaking a bone. Well, except for our six wheel, of course. Even then, I doubt this will be his last appearance. But I digress.

"We did it." Elena whispered, only for Lily to finally land. "Good work."

"Thanks." Lily answered and sighed. Her gaze then focused on the dead body of her former friend and began to tear into his armor to no avail. "Fuck."

"It'll be alright." Adarnamon added, only for Lily to grab hold of the bird and slam it into the corpse. Somehow, this managed to be the magic touch in breaking through the seemingly invincible angel armor.

Underneath all that armor, was a measly boy that looked like the protagonist from Project Digital. And by that, I mean bland and boring. The only thing of note, was a single slip of paper.

The belly of this foul beast lies where the loop begins

They stared at the message for a couple of seconds, only for the obvious yet unclear answer to come to them.

"One more stop and then we head on?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, making their way back towards the armored vehicle. All the while, a gatomon watches on, waiting to strike...

* * *

Notes:

So here's the short story on why there was a guy covered in landmines and duct tape:

While working on this chapter, I got a message from darkhaseo asking to make an OC for DAO. Naturally, I said yes, hoping for something usable.

Usable doesn't even come to half of what the final character ended up with. What I ended up with, was an incomplete character sheet for a guy with a partner who wanted to secretly make him a male harem. Mind you, this was after five days attempting to get the person to finish said sheet. In the end, I actually took it off his hands and completed it myself. But I took away his partner's infusion element as payment.

.

Next Time: This is where the fucked things are.


	37. The Tower

Session 37

The Tower

The ride didn't really last long.

Mostly since Blade's apartment wasn't that far from their current location and their strange ability to make time go by quite fast.

"I think that's more of the author's ability." Chacha explained, as the group sat inside the armored vehicle. "Which goes quite well with creating assistants that break his rules and creating confusing universes that seemingly serve no purpose."

And it seems that someone is still unhappy about losing their protagonist status oh so long ago. At the very least, she could be grateful to not be a chew toy to Usagi. But I digress.  
Even as they stood in front of the building, a sense of unease and despair seemed to come over them, almost similar to what was felt in Mahora's Library.

*We're being watched.*

"What do you mean?" Alice whispered as the group did a quick sweep of the surrounding area, only to come up with nothing.

*Someone is watching us.*

"Where?"

Suiko didn't answer, possibly searching for that very answer at the moment.

Reluctantly, they made their way into the parking garage. In a way, it was just like how the author had described in the previous chapter. Gray and depressing.  
"Okay then." Adarnamon whispered, only for the shadows to creep towards them.

*They're here.*

Alice made a quick glance into her shadow, only for it to be engulfed by the other shadows in the room.

"Intruders! Intruders!"

A pair of feathered angels then swooped down.

"He has returned!" the first one announced, only to be doused in a conslig special. "Interesting, so Bonessa has finally decided to wake up."

Consligmon only rolled his eyes and laughed.

"You're quite wrong, my friend." Consligmon answered, flicking a match at the doused angel. "I'm the only one to leave that wretched realm."

"Okay then."

The second angel then cleared it's throat, possibly ready something truly mind-blowing that you people will probably ignore.

"In that case, welcome intruders!" angel #2 announced, only for all of Delta to stare at her.

"I believe you're doing it wrong." Elena answered, only for the angel to glare back at her.

 **Neko Scratch!**

Joey slammed his staff against the ground, only for two cat claws to shoot out from the ground and tear at their opponents.

 **Dark Bubble!**

While Joey was doing that, Tsukaimon puffed up and shot a purple bubble out at the opponents. The projectile curved towards the targets, only to explode upon them.

"Nice shot." Gentleman responded and pulled his swords out.

 **Kimera Slice!**

Gentleman then charged over to the two angels and proceeded to slice them into a million pieces. In a way, it was kind of a refreshing change of pace from Talos.

"I guess that worked." Officer EMT added, "Still would have preferred the challenge."

The group made their way towards the door, finding more angels awaiting them.

"How dare you!" an angel announced and was treated to a mouthful of shotgun shells. As such, this was the signal for all the other angels to charge forth and attack them.

 **Overkill!**

Yokozamon pulled the minigun out and proceeded to mow down the targets. Strangely, this didn't seem to stop the battle between angels and gunfire.

And it appears Yokozamon has won this battle, allowing for Delta to proceed until they hit their next obstacle. In this case, that turned out to be a large pane of 'plot glass'. You know, the kind of destructible barrier that must be destroyed with a certain one-time use it-

Before the above sentence could be finished, Officer EMT flung a large suitcase at it and the barrier shattered into a middle itty-bitty pieces.

"I don't get it." Cutemon announced, with everyone agreeing with that logic. At the very least, the rabbit had managed to get through an entire sentence without stuttering. "Awesome!"

"It's an anime reference." Officer EMT answered and acknowledged his partner's accomplishment with a slight nod. After, he turned his attention back to their current goal.

They headed through the door, finding themselves in some sort of lobby.

Pink blood had been smeared all about the area, going quite well with all the broken stuff. Further complimenting the place, were the handful of angels sitting in three-legged chairs.

"Can you just leave us alone? We're currently on a coffee break." an angel announced, taking a sip from a mocha.

"Uh... sure?" Elena answered and continued on, with the rest of the group following her into the elevator. Once they were all inside, she pushed a button and the large metal box ascended towards the heavens.

"Officer EMT, I have a question." Chacha inquired, only for the troll's gaze to focus on her as Aegiochusmon did the same.

"And what would that be?" Officer EMT answered.

"How old are you?"

Officer EMT froze, but took a deep breath and smiled.

"I'm older than this multiverse."

Everyone just stared at him, unsure of whether Officer EMT was even telling the truth or just pulling their leg.

"That would make sense." Lily added as she glanced towards Officer EMT. "After all, this world was created before the digitalverse was a thing to an extent."

Aegiochusmon only rolled his eyes.

"Let's say that's true." Aegiochusmon started. "Doesn't that make you super overpowered and totally unbalanced?"

A large hand then connected with his face, slapping him into the wall. After, everyone turned to face the original speaker.

"Overpowered?" Officer EMT remarked, stamping his left foot against the floor. "Just because I've been around the block, doesn't mean anything in this realm. You could be the god of all gods, only to get beaten by a mortal who is throwing everything he has at you."

Silence filled the elevator as it came to a halt. The doors then opened, revealing a a ruined hallway similar to that of the lobby. Even then, it appeared that the the Tasmanian Devil had come through and decided to not clean up his mess. That, or someone had released a horde of children of St Velodias without forcing them to engage in the dangerous ritual known as 'cleaning'.

At the very least, it merely added only a handful of minutes to the journey to their destination. But with each step, a feeling of unease seemed to erupt from the hall as they go closer to Blade's Apartment.

"Here it is." Lily whispered as a tear dripped down her face.

In front of Delta, a plain room stood quietly. It taunted them in a way, mocking them for the outburst in the elevator.

"Ready to do this?" Aaron whispered, with everyone nodding in reluctant agreement. The detective then pulled the door open and everyone froze.

Laying in front of the door, was a skeleton with a message written in dried pink blood on the floor.

All good things must come to an end...

* * *

Next time: Investigation time!


	38. End of an era

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 38

End of an Era

They stood there, taking all of it in.

Gone was the simple apartment of old, with a large open area already taken the place of it. Darkness seemed to echo from every corner of it, echoing the words of our heroes.

"Okay then." Adarnamon whispered and flew closer towards the skeleton. The body had been there for quite a while, judging from the twisted and broken appearance of everything around them. "One hell of a party he must of had."

"I doubt it." Joey answered and keeled beside the body. He then pulled his notes out, giving them a quick examination. "Maybe this is what that catgirl was talking about."

"Catgirl?" Polly inquired and gazed towards Elena. "Care to explain?"

Elena took a deep breath.

The gale corsair had thought she had explained what had happened up to their trip to Drogaciji Academy on the way back from said adventure. But, that seemed to not be the case. At the very least, they could read their own story.

"It gave Joey the information on how to infusion digivolve and some other stuff." Elena explained as Aaron scribbled it down in his notebook. The group then returned their attention back to Joey, who had just opened the mouth of the body. At first glance, there appeared to be nothing of any importance within the cavity. But as the shadow scientist bent down and looked closer at the area, he managed to grab hold of something and pulled the object out.

It was a key, the kind you would normally find in most office buildings for securing documents and/or secrets. At the very least, they could use it as a stepping stone within this mystery.

"But what does it go too?" Aaron remarked as everyone went off to find the elusive lock for it's marriage with this magical key. Or would have, if they hadn't tripped over a large handle sticking out of the ground. "And this makes sense, because?"

He glanced over at the rest of the group, finding a similar confusion reaction stamped on their faces.

"This is the digitalverse." Aegiochusmon answered and grabbed hold of the handle. "If any of this really made any actual sense, it would be that fun."

The harem mage then pulled back on the object, accidentally launching the safe up into the air for a couple seconds. Once it had finally landed, the members of Delta gathered around and cautiously inserted the key. At the very least, they could have taken a step back after opening it. Just in case the safe had been booby-trapped and all.

Inside, all that remained was an ebony pocketwatch and a small pile of documents.

"That's it?" Alice remarked, only for Joey to snatch the timepiece and leave the papers. Which, would leave Aaron as the only one left in the non-pocketwatch carrying club. "I was kind of expecting more."

Darkness then flooded into the room, seeming to bleed out any light to be found.

"So, you thought you could just waltz into here like you own the place, huh?" a voice announced as a single spotlight shined down upon the middle of the room. Within the light, stood a teenage girl on the verge of adulthood. She was dressed casually, just a white t-shirt with a matching pair of pants and sandals. Her white hair was cut short, seeming to not go well with her yellowish orange eyes. "Figures. You people never cared."

"Shut up." Joey announced and slammed his staff against the ground, possibly getting ready to cast something.  
Everything was coming clear in his mind. The visit from that catgirl, Despair and now this. It was all connected and yet, he couldn't figure out why. But if he didn't take this chance now, who knows when the next chance would come about for them.

 **Dark Pact!**

Pain surged through his body, only for dark energy to take it's place. It had been a while since he had used this move, but the scientist never forgot the feeling it emanated off of him. He held the pocketwatch closely to his chest and whispered something under his breath.

 **Tsukaimon infusion digivolve too... Issacmon!**

 **Gentleman infusion digivolve too... Gentlemon!**

 _Scanning..._

 **Issacmon**

 **Champion, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Holy Fog, Blessed Bubbles**

 **.**

 **Joey: Well. This just got interesting.**

 **Yami: Whatever.**

 **Gentleman: To be expected from you.**

 _Scan complete._

 _Scanning..._

 **Gentlemon**

 **Mega, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Restoration, Cleansing Flurry**

 **,**

 **Jestery: Cora, get Jestery's throwing forks!**

 **Cora: We don't have any.**

 **Jestery: Then Jestery will make some!**

 **Cora: You had to make that joke. You realize you just ruined this analyzer entry?**

 **Jestery: Jestery don't care!**

 _Scan Complete._

"Okay then?" Lily announced as the group focused on the two new digimon. The first, Issacmon, looked like a young winged child dressed in a simple white toga. It's short blonde hair was all ruffled up which was complimented by a pair of chocolate brown eyes.

The other, Gentlemon, appeared to be tall pale humanoid with four longswords floating around him. The creature was dressed in a nice-looking tuxedo with a matching pair of dress shoes. A tophat was firmly planted within his red hair, with a monocle hanging over the left of a pair of emeralds.

"Do you really think those two can stop me?" the voice continued and pulled a crossbow out.

"We have no clue who you even are!" Polly shouted as Issacmon and Gentleman charged forth. She cautiously follows right behind, with the rest of Delta bringing up the rear. But just as they were about attack...

 **Success!**

Their opponent fired a crossbow bolt off, missing them and hitting a wall. They all stopped, giving it a quick look. Had they known, they would have ran. Not that it would have mattered then.

A tear within space and time had formed, leaving this their final destination.

"Bring it." Elena announced, only to turn around and headed towards the rift. "Change is always good."

Lily followed obediently behind, possibly making sure she didn't get left by her love.

"Shut up." the succubus announced as she and Elena were sucked in.

"You heard her." Aaron added as their opponent watched on. If their opponent wanted too, they could have killed them. And yet, here they stood. By doing that, they were denying her victory at a mysterious cost. "There is no time like the present."

He, Aegiochusmon and Gentleman followed suit, getting taken away to parts unknown.

"Great." Polly remarked as she and her gyroid partner followed right behind. "Can't let everyone else have all the fun."

In all confusion, Cutemon somehow got swept up into Polly's group as they jumped in. Not that the rabbit really cared, having needed some time to clear his thoughts. As that happened, Alice and her digimon partners decide to leave also.

"Let us take this gamble." she had announced as the trio headed through, only for the portal close after the departure.

All that remained were Joey, Issacmon, Officer EMT and Adarnamon. For surprising as it may have been to them, there had to have been a reason. But for now, there was not time to think. It was time to act.

"So, you decided to stay." their opponent announced, cocking her crossbow back. "I guess I need to fix that right now!"

A flurry of crossbow bolts shot out and locked onto our remaining heroes. There was nothing they could really do, with the four just standing there and getting knocked back through the building.

"Too easy." was the last thing they heard from their opponents as gravity's hand took a hold of them. Their opponent then teleported away, assured of her victory. But she had forgotten the one greatest thing about this multiverse. You should never count an underdog out.

* * *

Notes:

And with that, another arc of DAO is now in the books. I'm going to take a temporary hiatus from DAO, mostly to work on other fics.

.

Next Time: The more things change...


	39. Mourning Song

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 39

Mourning Song

Gravity.

Of all the forces one could possibly face, it was the least threatening. After all, it was what kept most humans from floating off into space. But right now, it currently wasn't on our heroes side. Because you know, saving you from fall damage isn't his job. That was Magic, who was dealing with a bunch of other people at the moment.

"Thank you for that incredibly useless info." Joey announced and took a deep breath. Right now, they needed to slow their descent just enough to not cause certain death while being just enough to reduce the time having to climb back up the tower. "Got any ideas, anyone?"

Before anyone could even answer, Officer EMT pointed his bazooka towards the incoming ground and pulled everyone towards him.

"Ready to do this?" Officer EMT inquired and everyone nodded. The troll then fired his weapon off and took a deep breath. While not the safest way to prevent fall damage to oneself and their friends, they really didn't have a choice. It was this or death, which usually leads to the obvious choice to this question.

A few seconds later, the rocket collided with the ground and exploded, launching them right through the hole they had just had made mere minutes before.

"I guess that worked." Adarnamon announced and helped pull her friends up. She would have preferred to have gone with Elena and Lily but, something about this place was calling to her. Maybe it was the faint smell of poison or possibly her memories playing tricks on her. Even then, it could just be a complete mix of the two.

Nonetheless, she began to look through the files. At first it was your stand stuff. You know, baking soda volcanoes, potato batteries and taping two bottles together in order to create a water twister. Basic science experiments, one could say. Or would be, if everything wasn't supersized to the extreme.

Adarnamon quickly brisked through that section without giving it much thought. She then moved onto the next section, only to do a double take.

 _Carinamon & Letorramon-_

 _A scorpion and a turtle. While the two don't seem to really like each other at all, that can be fixed eventually. For know, I must imprint the poison element into the scorpion. Nora has taken an interest towards the turtle, which is quite odd. Nonetheless, Carinamon is almost finished. All that's left is to complete her various forms._

The champion digimon took a deep breath. The next couple of passages were mostly ramblings from her creator, going into detail about her biology and all that truly useful information. Adarnamon then pushed that page away and looked towards the next one.

Unlike the page before it, this one displayed a crude illustration of her. It was just a simple black and white sketch that looked quite unfinished. It didn't help there was large blood splotch on the opposite page, hiding any possibly useful information written there. Adarnamon pushed the papers away and took a deep breath. While as cool as the info had been, it felt incomplete and useless.

"Find anything else?" she inquired and got a trio of sighs. Adarnamon wasn't entirely sure what she expected them to say, but that seemed to be about right. They were currently separated from the rest of their teammates, with no idea where they currently were at the moment.

"We could just head back to the digital world." Officer EMT suggested and their gazes focused on him. "Maybe someone will know how to find them."

Joey took a deep breath. The troll was absolutely right, even if he didn't want to admit it. For as much as the scientist wanted to stay and learn more about what was going on, he would have to draw the line eventually.

"Five more minutes." Joey answered and walked towards one of the darker areas in the lab. "There just has to be something that will lead us to our goal."

Even as he said it, Joey knew it wasn't true. The visit had been quite a bust and they had little to really sho-

Before the author could finish his sentence, the scientist tripped and landed on the ground. Once he had finished dusting himself off, he did a double take. Right before him was a small note, possibly written by his father. He quickly picked it up and looked it over.

 _Dear Joey,_

 _If you're reading this, there is still time. I had hoped that one day I would see you again, maybe possibly apologize to you for abandoning you. Considering you're reading this, I doubt you even care. And I don't blame you. While we all make mistakes, some of us just make greater mistakes than others. At the very least, I'm very proud of you. To have made this far with your friends is quite impressive. Keep up the good work._

 _-Dad_

Joey smiled and shoved the note into his pocket. He then made his way back over to the group, finding the trio standing there.

"Are you alright, Joey?" Issacmon inquired and Joey laughed.

"Alright? I'm feeling awesome!" Joey answered and headed towards the entrance of the lab. The other three followed right behind, only for a slow clap to fill the air.

"Good for you." a voice announced as a shadowy figure appeared the middle of the room. "Good for fucking you."

"Who the heck are you?" Officer EMT inquired and the figure laughed.

"You can call me Sir D-bag."

All four of them rolled their eyes and laughed. For some reason, they just could take this person for real. With that, something clicked within Joey.

"Goodbye then, Sir D-bag." the scientist explained as he pulled his staff out and charged towards their opponent.

 **Shadow Neko Scratch!**

The pair of cat paws then appeared and smashed into their target.

"Pathetic." the figure answered as the paws disappeared. "Is that the best you got?"

Joey then laughed and muttered something under his breath, pain and power now surging through his body. He then pulled his staff back and swung it into his opponent, knocking the target to the ground.

"Let's go." Joey explained, motioning for the digimon to follow.

"Aren't you going to finish me off?" the figure inquired as the the four of them left the lab.

"You're not worth our time." Officer EMT announced as the group headed through the doorway and closed the door.

They quickly made their way over to the elevator and pressed the down button. Unlike the ride up, silence filled the vessel. For now, they just needed to decompress and move on.

"At least the angels are gone for now." Issacmon whispered as they passed through the lobby and into the stairway. There it was just a short walk back to their vehicle. With that done, the four entered the vehicle and headed off.

.

Valia sighed.

Heck was currently in ruin and she hadn't even gotten to have a single drink yet. Which, she pretty sure was a law (it wasn't).

"Do I have to go?" she shouted and her rescuer sighed, pulling her claymore out. "You're truly a buzzkill, Chaos."

Chaos only rolled her eyes and laughed.

"Everyone is waiting for you." Chaos explained, leading the drunkard out of the room and into the hallway. There, Chibi awaited with six warriors. "You got this?"

The warriors nodded, watching as the trio teleported away.

"I guess this will be our final fight, Empress." warrior #1 announced and pulled a single katana out.

"I guess you're right, Phoenix." Empress answered and looked at the rest of the group. "Devi, Lucky, Reaper and Mage, ready to do this?"

Two girls and a boy nodded as Phoenix did the same.

"Good." Phoenix added as he motioned for his friends to follow. "By the end of this, they shall know our names."

* * *

Notes:

Sometimes, it can't all be blazing battles and heart-pounding drama. Sometimes, it good to slow down a little and expand upon said things. At the very least, Session will be coming out on May 1st with regular posting beginning again on May 20th.

.

Next Time: One final hunt within these ruins. Only then, can we move on...


	40. Completing their Story

Session 40

Our Last Hunt

 _All stories eventually end. Whether it be a long epic or a series of diary entries. It can't go on forever, even if you truly want it too. -Description for The Ex-Conqueror Diaries_

It was funny to them.

For so long, they had watched from the shadows. Occasionally, they would act. Usually, this ended in utter failure. Maybe that was why they eventually stopped doing that altogether and just relaxed until today.

"Funny how things work out." Phoenix thought and smiled.

Currently, he and his teammates were standing at the edge of Valia's castle, staring out at the ruins they had called home for so long. All around them, angels had begun to massacre all that stood before him with not a hint of regret. And now, they were the only ones capable of taking on these threats. The irony of that seemed delicious enough to eat almost. If they had the time to do that.

Phoenix took a deep breath and charged forth, with Mage following right behind. It was just like old times, back when The empress was their biggest problem. When there was just one timeline you needed to follow. Where things were certain and clear. And yet, it was quite boring to read and/or experience. Then things changed, for better or for worse.

 **Lightning Blade!**

Mage swiped both of her kopis through the air, electricity now flowing through the metal. She then stabbed it into a nearby angemon, freezing them in place for a couple of seconds.

 **Twin Phoenix Cutter!**

A pair of small phoenixes shot out of Phoenix's katanas, slamming into the angel Mage had been working on.

With that change, came new opportunities and challenges. Each one, a test of one's strength pushed to the breaking point. A few times, the author had managed to break him. And yet, here they stood triumphantly. Maybe, just maybe, there luck was beginning to change. They doubted it, already knowing their coming fate.

"Come on." Mage whispered, snapping Phoenix out of his moment of reflection. "There are still many angels to fight."

Phoenix took a deep breath and sighed. A lone magnaAngemon stood patiently, potentially waiting for them. The duo dashed their way over to it.

 **Gate of Destiny!**

As they got within striking distance of the ultimate, a golden disc appeared beside it, ready to suck the duo in.

"Fuck." Phoenix whispered and gave Mage a slight nod.

 **Inferno Firework!**

Mage shoved her left kopi into the ground, only for a large bottle rocket to shoot out and slam into their opponent. The gate then dissipated and left the magnaAngemon quite confused. The duo then charged in, slamming their weapons into him and tore the digimon to shreds.

"Another one down!"

As Phoenix said that, five more magnaAngemon swooped down and surrounded the duo. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best move they could make at the moment. Not that they even cared at this point.

 **Lucky Strikes!**

A figure blitzed through the group, slashing a pair of butterfly swords through the magnaAngemon.

"I guess that answers our question." Mage whispered as their savior could now be seen.

"Thanks Gambler." Phoenix added as Gambler smiled and the three headed on, finding a massive herd of Angewomon and MagnaAngemon awaiting them.

 **Twin Phoenix Cutter!**

 **Five Card Slash!**

 **Inferno Firework!**

As Phoenix and Mage launched their attacks out, Gambler charged towards their opponents with a deck of cards. She then flung it up into the air, watching as the pieces of paper floated through the air in relative peace. Or would have, if a scythe blade hadn't torn through and interrupted her attack.

"Hey!" Gambler announced as a boy and a girl jumped into the fray. The duo made quick work of the threat, leaving the three heroes quite annoyed. "Did you have to do that, Devi and Reaper?"

The duo only laughed.

"And let it not be like the old times?" Devi announced and tapped the pole of his scythe against the ground. "We got to savor it while lasts."

He was probably right, sadly. All journeys had to end eventually, no matter what sort it may be. For as far as they had come, the group had reached their destination on the road of life.

In the distance, their target stood all triumphantly and menacingly. They were almost ready to take her on, just having to wait on just one more teammate.

"What's taking her so long?" Reaper shouted and stared towards Phoenix and Mage. "You didn't piss her off again, did you?"

Phoenix and Mage rolled their eyes and a girl carrying a boombox ran up.

"Sorry about that." the girl explained and casually placed the boombox on the ground.

"You're on time, Empress." Phoenix joked and got a glare from her.

Empress then pulled a pair of cutlasses out and approached the group, kicking the boombox on in the process. 'Can't stop us now' by Machines of Flesh and blood then began to play as the group charged towards to their opponent, ready for whatever fate awaited them.

"My, my, my." the opponent announced, pulling a crossbow out. "So this is how it's going to be, huh?"

"We wouldn't want it any other way, Yami." Empress answered and snickered. "Let's finish this."

 **Darkness!**

Yami fired her crossbow off, crossbow bolts now raining down upon them.

 **Gorgon Slash!**

Empress charged towards her, slamming both cutlasses into the opponent. Afterwards, Yami found herself unable to move for a few seconds and was subjected to a couple of rounds of slashes and stabs from her opponents.

 **Success!**

Yami grabbed hold of her opponent and placed the crossbow in front of their head. She then fired, watching as the bolt pierced right through the head and into the ground.

 **Inferno Firework!**

Once more, Mage stabbed her left kopi into the scorched earth as a bottle rocket shot out of the ground and into the opponent.

 **Lightning Blade!**

She swiped her right kopi through the air, electricity flowing through it once more. Mage then swung the dagger into Yami and connected with the crossbow. The discharge alone should have been enough to kill her. Yet, Yami still stood there, haven't even moved a single inch at all.

"How pathetic, Clara." Yami mocked and kicked the scorceressmon to the ground. "I expected much more from you."

Yami then smashed her boot into Clara's skull as a bone-shattering crack echoed throughout the area.

"How dare you!" Phoenix shouted, charging up another round of twin phoenix cutter. "You will pay for this!"

Before Phoenix could launch off his attack, Gambler grabbed hold of him.

"Now is not the time for this, Ace." Gambler whispered as everyone's 'favorite' character sighed.

"Fine." he answered and took a deep breath as Gambler released him.

 **Five Card Slash!**

Gambler pulled a new deck of cards out and threw it up into the air around Yami. She then charged forth, slashing and stabbing at the small projectiles in mid-air.

 **Lucky Strikes!**

Gambler then dashed back through a second time and was tripped by Yami.

"I guess your gunslinging friend isn't going to save you this time."

Gambler was then slammed into the ground as a second crack filled the area once more.

 **Doombringer!**

The blade of Devi's scythe shot off as he swung it and the long chain towards their opponent. Yami grabbed hold of the chain and pulled the weapon out of Devi's hands, swinging it into his chest.

"Predictable." Yami announced and slammed the other end of the weapon into Reaper. "You're up. Any last words?"

Ace laughed and grabbed hold of Yami, giving her a tight hug.

"Yes, actually." Ace explained. " I caught you."

He then shoved Yami to the ground, an uneasy smile forming on his face. In a way, he had hoped it wouldn't have come down to this. But at the same time, he was ready to face this outcome with everything he had to give.

"You caught me off guard." Yami responded and pulled a pair of butterfly swords out. "But you'll have to do much better than that."

She was probably right.

He wasn't an overpowered yet interesting sue.

He wasn't a happy go lucky robot thing.

He wasn't some 'amnesiac' girl given a second chance on life.

He wasn't an awkward social butterfly.

Nor did he had infinite lives.

And yet, he was perfectly fine with that. He was Ace Resterez. No one else would truly be like him. And in the end, that was all that truly mattered. He had found his purpose within this mess and had attained the goal he and his friends had aspired too.

To be a hero.

 **Hidden Art: Phoenix Swarm!**

Instead of the usual two phoenixes shooting out, a dozen of the birds appeared in front of Ace.

"And this is where my journey ends." Ace whispered, watching as the birds slammed into Yami. "Good luck with Delta, toots."

His eyes then slammed shut for the final time, a smile plastered on his face as his katana fell to the ground and the birds flew off to parts unknown. With that, the last of the hunters had died, not that any of you care that much.

"Good riddance." Yami remarked and teleported away as Heck fell silent for the first time in forever. And for now, it would stay that way until the time came to rebuild once more.

In the end, it was all just a stepping stone within this convoluted mess towards the bigger picture.

* * *

Notes:

RIP Hunters

May 1, 2012- May 1, 2016

Four years. Four long years of writing.

Crazy how times flies. Eventually, you just have to move on to bigger and better projects. For so long, I was unable to do that. And it shows at times in a couple of my past works. But now, this is their end and it is time for me to continue on.

Other than that, regular posting should resume in mid to late May.

.

Next Time: Any moron can be a pirate.


	41. You are a pirate

Session 41

You are a pirate

Elena opened her eyes.

Currently, the gale corsair found herself within a quite plain room. Of which, it consisted of four bare wooden walls and a simple carpet floor. While not anything to write home about, it would serve the job nicely.

"So now what?" she thought and made her way to the door, pushing it open.

On the other side, stood Lily. However now, she had broken free of her plush form and taken on a humanoid state. Strangely, this didn't seem to affect her clothes, which had grown to fit her.

"Okay then." Elena thought as she headed through.

"Don't you like my new look, Elena?" Lily joked as her master sighed. "Oh come on, lighten up a little."

The gale corsair took a step forward and looked the succubus in the eye. As much as she did want to lay back and relax, now wasn't the time to do that. Their teammates were somewhere in this crazy multiverse and Elena had no clue at all to their locations. But at the same time, Lily had a good point. Everything up to this point had seemed to be a never-ending train ride of pain and suffering with only a few sprinkles of joy thrown in for good measure. For once in this journey did they have a chance to relax. But the more she thought about it, the clearer the answer became.

"I guess." Elena reluctantly answered as she continued to stare at her partner. "Ready to start the next chapter of our life?"

"Absolutely."

Lily leaned towards her, planting a kiss on her cheek. At the very least, the demon hadn't bit her. With that question answered, a new question formed within their minds. It was the question that many asked quite often within their lifetimes.

Now what?

The duo still had no clue where they were or, how they were supposed to get off of it. And then there was the down time to think about as well. They would both need to get jobs, but what exactly?

That was always the question, wasn't it? Even when it wasn't in that format, that's what it always seemed to be. Always, there seemed to be the illusion of choice. After all, there is always one predestined choice. In the end, it is us who make the choice, not them.

"Great, he's babbling again." Elena whispered and headed towards the door, with Lily following right behind. The two cautiously pushed the door open and allowed the glow to take them in.

Outside, the purple sky and brownish ground were the first things to welcome them in. Next were the variety of anthro creatures that seemed to be going about their daily routines without giving them much of a second thought. In the distance, a honey yellow sea and a bunch of wooden docks called out to them, tempting them with some form of legendary treasure that only they could possibly find.

"Hello?" Lily greeted as she approached a family of lizardmen. "Can any of you guys tell me where I am?"

The lizards gave them a quick glance and continued on their merry way. Elena then walked over to her partner and placed a hand on Lily's back.

"It was worth a shot." the gale corsair explained. "We'll just have figure it out ourselves if no one wants to help us."

That was the most frustrating thing about all of this. They were complete strangers within this realm, tourists in a way. Like most tourists though, they hadn't any plans whatsoever for such a situation. Maybe they had thought their abilities alone would get them through this. Or, they had grown so used to being part of a group that it seemed so weird to just be on their own once more. Whatever the reason may possible be, the two would need to solve it soon. If they didn't, the author would 'make' the choice for them. And who knows what he would possibly choose for them.

Elena and Lily dashed towards the docks, quite ready to start the next chapter of their lives. After that, it was just the simple task of finding the community board and seeing if anything really caught their interests.

"Let's see…" Elena whispered as the two stared at the board. Most of the jobs listed there were mostly part-time or housework for lazy people. As well-paying as those jobs probably were, they just didn't seem like the kind of thing either girl wanted to do. The rest, were requests for seasoned scallywags. Somehow, neither of them were qualified to do. Which makes no sense at all, considering everything the members of Delta had gone through up to this point.

"This doesn't even make sense to begin with." Lily added. "This is for being a pirate. I'm pretty certain any yahoo can easily do that."

Elena's gaze then snapped onto her partner. As much as she wanted to agree with Lily, they couldn't just recklessly choose a new job.

"Fine then." she whispered and reluctantly followed Lily further down the docks. There, a small assortment of ships awaited them, each one of them calling out to be used by someone. So, they found the harbormaster, who turned out to be some large shark anthro. "We would like to buy a ship."

The shark rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Yeah, I give ships to every person who comes up to me and asks nicely." the shark answered and laughed. "Give me one good reason and maybe, just maybe, I'll give you a rowboat to start out on."

Elena and Lily gave each other a quick glance, smiles forming on their faces.

"Yes, yes we do." Elena whispered and pulled her kris out.

 **Corsair Strike!**

The gale corsair charged a few steps towards the shark, knocking him up into the air. She then continued her combo with a series of slashes and stabs, only to drop him into the water. When the shark finally did make his way back onto the dock, he was strangely flashing a smile towards the two girls.

"You passed." the harbormaster explained and handed both of them an oar. "I guess we'll start small for now."

He then led Elena and Lily down the dock, where a small rowboat awaited them.

"This is it." Lily whispered as she took it in.

"I know." Elena answered and took a cautious step onto the boat. Lily followed right behind and sat down by her master. After, they began to row out into the vast sea, ready for wherever the waves would take them…

* * *

Notes:

Originally, this was going to just be the teaser for the last chapter. Even then, by the time this chapter goes up, I'll have the next one finished at least.

This next arc is going to be really jumpy. Once we get through the initial five-six chapters, things will smooth out and we'll start seeing the group begin to get back together once more.

And yes, the title is a direct nod to the lazytown song of the same name.

.

Next Time: Spirits and conundrums...


	42. Searching for an answer

Session 42

Searching for an answer

Suiko opened her eyes.

Currently, she found herself sitting upon a large pile of rubble and school supplies. Two plain walls were sandwiched in between, with a few hints of some grey school carpet peeking through.

"Where am I?" she thought and made a quick glance down at her arm. Instead of finding herself in control of Alice's body, only to see the slightly transparent appendage known as her left arm. "And where's Alice?"

The schoolgirl continued her once-over, finding she did have the pocketwatch at least. It was her only clue, even if it seemed as vague and useless as ever. She took a deep breath. If felt quite odd to be like this. Of the few times she could remember being outside of 'Alice', most of them in weird dream sequences involving a ruined earth.

'Find the door.'

It was a familiar yet unfamiliar voice as if they knew her but Suiko didn't. She needed to get going, maybe find some legitimate hint to her other half.

Maybe then, she could remember the before, not the after.

When they had finally became one, she had thought it would finally come back to her. All the good times, back when Suiko was Suiko and Alice…

Alice didn't exist.

Things were much better back then. Or were they? It was kind of hard to decide when you had no recollections of it. Ever since that game, she lost control of where she was going and someone else took over from here. No that wasn't right. More of, a different part of herself took over for her. In retrospect, this was probably the stupidest choice one could ever make. But at the same time, it had been the best choice she could of made.

Suiko reluctantly turns the corner, finding herself within a long corridor of doors with the faint shadow of the turkey in the middle of it.

"Consligmon!" she shouted and floated over to him. "It's me, Suiko!"

Consligmon 'glanced' in her direction, unsure whether or not there was anything actually there.

"Hey, I'm talking to you!"

Consligmon then sighed and made his way over to the spirit.

"What do you want?" the turkey accused and Suiko sighed.

"Not much actually." Suiko answered as Consligmon rolled his eyes.

"Do you have any clue where the fuck we are?"

Suiko took a few steps back, trying not to be swept in by the unbottled rage of the turkey spy.

"No?"

Consligmon then slapped her, knocking Suiko to the ground.

"Of course not." Consligmon answered. "That's because you're nothing but a useless boring whore!"

"And alice would somehow know?!"

"No, but she would at least take a chance and make a guess."

Suiko pulled both of her guns out, aiming them towards her partner.

"I dare you."

Suiko pulled the trigger, only for no bullet to come out of either gun. No matter how hard she tried, no rounds would come out.

"What is the meaning of this?" Suiko shouted and reluctantly holstered her guns.

Consligmon only rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the many doors.

"You wanna know something, kid?" Consligmon answered as he finally returned his attention. "I prefer it when you're both in control."

Suiko then sat herself down, pulling out a deck of cards and played a hand of solitaire.

"Of course you do." she responded and glanced all around. "It's what everyone wants after all. Also, you still didn't tell me where we are."

Consligmon laughed and took a deep breath. That was the favorite part about them in the way. While they were both their own person.

"We're in St Velodias, Suiko."

The schoolgirl glanced towards him with a blank expression, confused by how this could totally be a bad thing. So, Consligmon did the most natural thing to come to him and slapped Suiko once more. He got no response from the schoolgirl, who was currently just staring off into place. "Suiko?"  
His partner did not answer, continuing to stare off into space. Suiko possibly wanted to answer Consligmon, but was unsure of what would come from her response. In a way, she had come back to her original question from a few minutes ago. Were things before the accident really that better than they were now? If they were so great as she thought them to be, why could she remember it?

*Because one's memories are finite. Even if you tried, you wouldn't be able to remember it all.*

"Alice?" Suiko whispered as some light chuckling filled her mind. "Why aren't you in control?"

*I thought you finally wanted a chance to be in the driver seat?*

Consligmon made a quick glance towards the schoolgirl, whispering something under his breath.

"Yes, but this should be enough."

While neither one could see it, Alice was probably smiling.

*Are you sure?*

Suiko took a deep breath and nodded. While the short stint of control was nice, Consligmon was right. Things went a whole lot smoother went the two were together.

"Much better.* Alice remarked and returned her attention to Consligmon. "Where's Yokozamon?*

Consligmon shook his head and took a deep breath. With that problem fixed, he could now deal with much more pressing issues.

"He went through one of these doors." Consligmon explained as Alice sighed. "The stupid Yak claimed he had some sort of hunch."

The gambler made a quick glance down the hall. There had to be least to be at least ten doors a piece on each wall and considering how little they actually knew about this place, it probably was best to find the right one quick. She quickly made her way down the hall, scanning each door as she passed by them. They all looked the same to her, just brown slabs of wood with a piece of plexiglass shoved in for good measure. Through the glass, one could see the bloodthirsty faces of students staring back. None of them would ever move or say anything. They would just stare back, possibly attempting to do a vulcan mind meld upon Alice.

"Okay then." she thought and took a deep breath, moving onto the next set of doors.

Something seems odd about the door to her right. Maybe it was the lack of a plexiglass window or, the fact that this door was not from St Velodia's. No, it came from different academy, where things went different. The answer was probably out there, not that any of you people would even take the time to figure it out. You never really do, always grasping at straws and waiting for the answer to come to you.

"Okay then." Alice thought and motioned for Consligmon to come over to her. *I guess this would fit the puzzle.*

The gambler then grabbed hold of the knob, only to be unable to open the door.

*Maybe we need to push it up and then turn it?* Suiko suggested, only for Alice to pull her left pistol out.

 **Spiritflare!**

The gun fired off, with Suiko getting pushed through the door via the magic of bullet-travel. On the other side, the schoolgirl pulled her shotgun out and blasted the door open. Alice and Consligmon then passed through as Suiko just floated there.

"Yay! Suiko and company are here!"

A voice announced as a familiar yak digimon got up and walked over to them.

"Good to see you're alive." Alice whispered as she and Suiko hugged their partner. The two then turned to face the source of the voice, who turned out to be Jestery.

"Please sit down." the jester explained, motioning the foursome to sit down on some pillows stationed around a table. "The main guests will be here soon enough."

* * *

Notes:

This chapter is a mess and I realize that. Kind of to be expected from me. Even then, this one has been done for a while.

.

Next Time: We talk about Gobblemon and stuff.


	43. Evil for Good

Session 43

Consequences of action

Alice took a deep breath.

To both her and Suiko, every bit of their current sense made absolutely no sense. For as monotone and boring as this place felt, finding Jestery here seemed like some joke the author would make. Add in the previously mentioned bloodthirsty children from the last chapter and you got one truly serious situation on their hands.

*Are we sure this is a good idea?* Suiko whispered as she floated over to her 'sister'.

"How should I know?" Alice whispered back and grabbed hold of Suiko's hand. The two then sat down on the pillows beside their digimon, feeling quite awkward about all this. Even with their recent patching up of their relationship, it still felt kind of odd. But that could just be due to the two not really seeing each other in the same place at the same time. "Heck, is that even Jestery?"

The two's gazes focused in on their unauthorized ruler. Unlike usual, Jestery had even made an attempt to look civil, switching out her usual with an orange and blue suit. She had tied her hair in a single ponytail and actually was trying to be on her best behavior. How long that would last, was anyone's guess. Interestingly, it was the original Cora that was with her. Which seemed odd, considering that there was no real reason for the chrono maid to be there unless...

*That just seems like a long shot.* Suiko added as they received a glare from Cora. *Unless either of those letters were lying.*

"Oh please, I'm just a small minnow within this ocean of answers." Cora explained and rolled her eyes. "After all, the main course hasn't even arrived yet."

The four looked towards the maid, ideas swirling within their minds.  
For Alice, it was a chance to hear what had become of her parents after the accident.

For Suiko, the chance of seeing her parents would do just nicely.

In Yokozamon's case, he could just care less. As long as Alice was happy, he would be happy as well.

Consligmon on the other hand, wasn't so sure. Ever since he joined the gambler, he hadn't really wanted anything. Or did he? Whatever this 'main course' may be, he could care less. But in a way, that could be quite far from the truth. No, he actually wanted something simple. An answer to stolen chance. Just a couple words to explain why it happened.

*Are you alright?* Suiko inquired and Consligmon took a step back. *You just seem to be staring off into space…*

Consligmon took a deep breath, shifting himself to be visible to his friends.

"Since we have a lot of time before this 'main course' shows up, I guess I probably should properly introduce myself." the spy turkey explained and cleared his throat.

Yokozamon did a double take, confused by what the advisor had said.

"What do you mean, Mr Consligmon?" the yak inquired as he returned his gaze to his partner. "I just thought you were some random mercenary who wanted to appease Alice."

Consligmon chuckled under his breath and smiled.

.

Things were different then.

Back then, he had thought he was truly invincible. That nothing would ever be able to place a hand upon him. No one would be able to stand in his way and strike him down from his high perch.

And yet, as the turkey gunner stood upon the cracked marble floor within the once regal building, the truth was at its clearest.

He was a nobody. A nobody who fucked up. A nobody who just fucked up the one chance at a better life. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. This mess begins a few hour ago.

It had started with a job interview. Not just any simple job interview, mind you. But one with the royal family of Bonessa.

"Would canidate #18 please step forward?" a voice called out and Gobblemon looked up from his lap. He quickly sat up from his chair and headed over to the interviewer, some large bumblebee creature that probably didn't want to be here. Nonetheless, he led Gobblemon down the hall and into a small office. It wasn't anything that special, just four cramped gray walls with a dreadful dark grey carpet to boot. The two sat themselves down in a pair of swivel chairs separating themselves with a small desk.

"So, why do you want this job?" the bee started and Gobblemon took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"I want to have a purpose." Gobblemon explained and took a deep breath. "Being a hitman wasn't doing it for me."

"Not a people-person." the bee whispered, noting it down on his imaginary piece of paper. "Good to know. Anything else?"

"I'm a hard worker and I'm willing to help in any way possible."

"Also good to hear."

The bee then 'wrote' that down, ushering him out of the office. There, he would just have to wait for his fate for now. That was always the hardest part about this sort of thing. Once you've done your part, it was in the hands of others.

"No use wallowing on it now." Gobblemon thought as he took a deep breath, cleaning his backup weapon. Which, was just a simple revolver for those times when he found himself in tight situations. "I probably got it anyway."

Strangely, what he was doing was considered perfectly normal. Heck, a couple of the other participants were doing the same, just with much bigger and possibly loaded guns. He had been in the last group of the occupants, leaving just a few stragglers to be processed. Eventually, the final occupant did come back with the bee.

"Thank you all for coming." the bee explained and cracked a smile. "The good news is that you're all qualified. The bad news, only one of you can get it."

"Then how are we going to decide it?" one of the applicants accused and the bee laughed.

"Last person standing, of course."

Silence filled the room, with bullets taking the place of words at this point. The only thing he could remotely do at this point was survive. There was no use spreading any more blood on his feathers than he already had. No more was he invincible. He was just a useless nobody once more, striving for a purpose to his life. The turkey would have to take a chance, unaware it would change his fate.

Gobblemon charged towards the door, emergency pistol in hand. All he wanted was to leave this all behind and yet, it drags him right back in.

"I can't let you do that." the bee explained, now standing in front of the exit. "After all, this is what the royal family wants."

Gobblemon took a deep breath, the words ringing through his head.

What they wanted.

He wanted to smash the bug's skull into the wall. Heck, a large grin had formed on the bee's face and now looked quite punchable. Not that he would actually go through with it. Just the thought of it seemed worthy of the action. After all, sometimes you'll have to do evil in life in order to do good. But let's be honest here. There is no such action that can be defined as pure good or pure evil. Sometimes we need to do a bad thing in order to make sure good things occur.

"You'll let me out or else." Gobblemon whispered, pointing his gun towards the bug. "And I believe we both know what I meant."

The bee only laughed and did his best attempt at flipping him off. So, Gobblemon did the natural thing to come to him. The turkey gangster fired his pistol off, watching as the bullet passed through both the bee and the door, finally landing in the skull of a certain hive queen.

After all, just because you can justify your actions, doesn't leave you free from the consequences of said action...

.

"And that's what happened." Consligmon whispered as he stared towards his three companions. "I probably should told you earlier, moll."

Alice only giggled and placed a hand on the turkey's back. As long as they were all together, they could take on any threat that was thrown their way. Almost on cue, the door then swung open and silence filled the air once more. The foursome turned to face the new arrival, doing a double-take.

"That's impossible." Alice whispered and Jestery laughed. "What is the meaning of this?!"  
"Oh what luck Alice have!" Jestery answered. "No wonder you became a gambler!"

The 'lucky gambler' sighed and took a deep breath, pulling both of her guns out.

"You lied!"

Jestery's head then inched closer to Alice, a twisted smile beginning to form.

"Alice nor Suiko ever asked for Jestery to clarify her answer."

A man and a woman then take their seats by Cora, whispering something to the chrono maid.

"Now then." the woman explained. "I believe we much to talk about."

* * *

Notes:

I like how this chapter turned out, even if I've been stalling a little bit on it. Maybe it's the part of me that just enjoys actually giving digimon partners actual backstories.

.

Next Time: Sometimes, you must find yourself to truly reunite with what you took away...


	44. Life starts now

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 44

Life starts now

Family.

Of the many things Alice had given up that day, this was the easiest. After all, it took a simple 'snip' of the brake lines to rid her of that controlling parasite. And yet, here they so defiantly stood in front of her.

"Did you really think that would actually do us in?" Verena Tanaka taunted as her 'daughter' pulled her pistols back out. "While I do admire your efforts, you still have much to learn."

Suiko sighed and walked over to her parents. Yokozamon and Consligmon followed right behind, curious of who these people even were.

"How about, no?" Alice interrupted and fired both of her guns off, watching as the bullets headed right towards her mom's head. Verena only stood there, seemingly mocking the lucky gambler. And then, nothing.

No blood, no bullet wound, no casing. Not even a small bit of satisfaction upon that woman's face. The gambler had wanted to watch her mother bleed. Next would have been her father had she succeeded. All so she continue on her own path. But now, it would be her who would have to face it. And yet, she was fine with it. It was a fitting punishment for the crime she dared to commit upon them…

.

Alice Tanaka opens her eyes.

Once more, she finds herself within in the ruined city. Unlike the handful of times she had been here though, Suiko and their digimon had came along for the ride.

"You guys alright?" Alice inquires and everyone nods. "Good."

She takes a deep breath and turns her attention to their current surroundings. Currently, the foursome found themselves standing within in the partial ruins of a two story home. They were currently standing within the ruined part, a twisted monstrosity of concrete and plaster. The other side, looked mostly untouched with a small hint of dust thrown in for good measure. A streak of crimson fills the sky high above, with the occasional dark gray cloud thrown in for good measure.

*This place feels familiar.* Suiko whispers and Alice turns to face her.

"What do you mean?" Consligmon responded as he shifts visible, watching as his second master walked towards the other side.

*I've been here before.* Suiko only stood there, waiting for her teammates to follow. *Don't you get the same feeling, Alice?*

Alice continue to stare towards Suiko and took a deep breath. For once in what seemed like an eternity, she would have to agree with her. While the lucky gambler wasn't entirely sure what it was, something seemed to be calling out to them within this place. What that could possibly be remained unanswered. But for now, they would just have to continue their exploration. They started with the dining room, just a scattered pile of broken chairs and a table with the ground-up floor sprinkled on for good measure. Maybe, a family ate their meals together. Now, it was the cockroaches and the termites who would be the only ones feasting.

"I could really go for a burger, Miss Alice." Yokozamon remarks, reflecting upon the potential meal at the end of this.

"Same here." Consligmon adds and rubs his tummy.

*Yeah.* Suiko continues and gives Alice a quick glance. "How about you, miss german slut?"

Alice growled, only for her expression to shift to a smile.

"You got me there." the gambler answers and laughs. "But we can't stay here forever."

Her teammates sigh but follow her nonetheless. The next room on their tour is the living room, which manages to look slightly more intact than the dining room. Well, if you considered this room having a legitimate floor to be an 'advantage'. Even then, it was just some dust-covered carpet that none of them could determine the color of. The once white walls now looked pink, even if that wasn't by the previous owner's design.

"It's just paint, right?" Consligmon inquires as Yokozamon places a hoof upon the brightly-colored wall, only to reel back towards Alice. "I'm guess it isn't then?"

Yokozamon only nods and rubs his hooves on his clothes. He didn't want know where this 'paint' came from or who had applied it. This sort of questions was probably better left unanswered for the time being. After all, the answer is always much worse than the lies one perceive to fit in place of it.

Other than that, there wasn't really anything of interest within the living room. So the group moved onto the next 'intact' portion of the house, the stairway. It was what one expected a stairway to be and do. Be motionless and allow random people to traverse up and down it. This one in particular had probably seen better times, judging by the patches of concretes strewn in among the tattered carpet covering the steps. The foursome quickly made their way up it, occasionally making a quick glance behind them to make sure they weren't being followed. Even if there was something following them, they doubted it would be able to take all four of them on. Next came the hallway, which appears to be in about the same condition as the stairs. Unlike the stairs though, there seemed to be a couple of doors that possibly led to other rooms. The first of which, was just mere steps from the stairs.

"I guess we can start there." Yokozamon whispers and makes his way to the first door and cautiously opens it, only to discover a nonexistent room on the other side. "Not this one."  
Yokozamon then closes the door and the group heads a bit farther down the hall to door #2. This time, it was Consligmon that opened this one.

Unlike the previous door, an actual room existed on the other side. Heck, it even looked habitable for once. Well, if it weren't for the sheer amount of porcelain dolls staring right at them. Each one was dressed in the exact same outfit, a white blouse with a black suit top and skirt. A coat of white paint covered their faces, with a gray masquerade mask covering the upper half.

Alice stares towards the dolls, only to refocus on herself. In a lot of ways, it was almost a perfect match. She would move a hand up and the dolls would follow suit. It didn't matter what Alice did, the dolls would copy it.

 **Spiritflare…**

The lucky gambler points both of her guns towards the dolls, ready to destroy each and every one of them. Of all the actions they can do, this was the one thing they couldn't do. All it would take was to just pull the trigger...

And yet, she couldn't bring herself to do it and holsters her pistols, closing the door behind her.

"The bonds of family are just that of a parasite."

"Only you alone is strong enough."

"After all, there is one puppetmaster and puppet. Which is it?"

 **Overkill!**

Yokozamon suddenly aimed his minigun towards the door and proceeds to pulverize the piece of wood into a million pieces. The dolls were gone now, with two figures taking their place. The figure on the left appeared to be a teenage girl, dressed in the same outfit as the dolls from before. Her visible joints appeared wooden with string come off of each one. The other figure appeared to be a small schoolgirl, holding a x-shaped piece of wood with similar sort of string coming out from it.

"Good little doll." 'schoolgirl' whispers and waves her device towards the ground, watching as Yokozamon fell onto Consligmon. "Time for beddie-bye!"

Alice and Suiko only stand there, unsure of how to react to this. None of it seemed to make not a lick of sense. Yet, it was all crystal clear.

"Stay by me." Alice whispers and motions for her 'sister' to stay by her. "You still have ammo for your shotgun, right?"

Suiko nods and cradles the shotgun in her hands. She then dashes over to Alice, her gaze focused on the lucky gambler than their opponents.

*Are you sure about this?* Suiko whispers, only for Alice to wrap her left arm around her.

"Yes." Alice answers and pulls her right pistol back out. "After all, chance is our game."

 **Spiritflare!**

Both girls fired their weapons off, watching as the bullets slammed into their targets. For once in what seemed like forever, the bullets actually seem to be working.

!eralftiripS

Almost on command, the figures fire back at them. Strangely, 'schoolgirl' was the one with the sole pistol while 'dolly' had the shotgun. A perfect match, each one complimenting their opposite perfectly. In a way, it was pointless to keep this up.

*I have an idea.* Suiko mumbles as she lowers her shotgun.

"What is it?" Alice answers and turns her gaze towards the schoolgirl. Suiko whispers something into Alice's ear and receives a nod in return. "That just might work, but we'll have to be careful."

The gambler holsters her pistol, watching as 'schoolgirl' did the same. She then turns to face Suiko and takes a deep breath. If this doesn't work, they would have to go back to using Spiritflare on the figures, which didn't seem that good of an idea.

*Ready?*

Alice only nods and gets down onto her knees, only for Suiko to casually place the end of shotgun towards her head.

"Ready."

A loud bang filled the air as crimson red liquid began to flow onto Alice's dress and Suiko's sailor fuku. Yet, the lucky gambler and her sister were standing unharmed. No, it was their opponents that lay defeated.

"We did it." Alice whispers and makes a quick glance down at herself. Gone is her white blouse and pencil skirt, having been replaced with a crimson dress. Her legs and arm were now bare, allowing for much better mobility and to show off her now matching high heels.

*Yeah.* Suiko adds as she now looks over her clothes. Gone was her sailor fuku, having been replaced with a much simpler orange t-shirt and blue skirt with a pair of black boots. *I guess it's better than my school outfit.*

The sisters then laugh and turn their attention towards their partners. As rude as it would be to head onto the next door, it just didn't seem like that good of an idea to pull.

"Fine." Alice whispers and gives Yokozamon a slight kick. "Wake up, sleepy face."

*You too, sleepy bird!* Suiko adds and pats Consligmon's head, only to follow it up by some light shaking. *Time to get up!*

Both digimon quickly stir back to consciousness, having probably had some pretty awesome dreams while their masters were fighting.

"Oh well." Yokozamon whispered and got himself up, with Consligmon doing the same with Suiko's help. "Let's go."

With that out of the way, the foursome headed towards the final door. This time though, it took the combined effort of the entire group to get it open. On the other side, they found themselves not in the classroom in St Velodias. Instead, they found themselves outside Drogacjiji Academy. Suiko was somehow still with them, even if they had expected her to return to Alice's body.

"So, now what?" Alice whispered as her gaze focuses on the entrance. Unlike their previous visit, the front door had been propped open. Which was quite odd, considering what happens when one goes through that particular entrance.

The lucky gambler took a deep breath and sighed. For times like this, she wouldn't mind having Elena around. While Elena wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, there was something about her that one could admire in a way. A sort of drive that never seemed to stop at times, capable of breaking through even the strongest of foes and keep on going.

*Alice!*

Alice turned around, finding Suiko and their digimon standing before her.

"What's the plan, boss?" Consligmon inquired and Alice sighs.

"We walk right in." Alice whispers and makes her way towards the open doors, reloading her weapon in the process. "Even if it is a trap set for us."

Suiko reloads her shotgun as the two digimon follow right behind, ready for the force was tempted enough to destroy them...

* * *

Notes:

Last chapter before I graduate from High School.

And yes, the title is in reference to the song of the same name by Three Days Grace.

.

Next Time: Aaron asks a favor...


	45. The author and the vandals

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 45

The author and the vandals

The Digital World.

For many a digimon multiverse, it is the main stomping ground for its heroes. But in the Digitalverse, there were no heroes. No, there were only survivors here.

With the hunters now permanently dead, there was nothing left to hold the legions of angels back from attacking this realm. Add in the countless dead heroes from their attacks upon Hunter's End and Heck, it left the population of the digitalverse (the main part) at an all-time low. But for every gray cloud, there's a silver lining. In the times like this, a quote comes to mind. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' or something along those lines.

And so, dawn breaks upon a large jungle plantation. In the distance, one can just make out a small villa owned by a certain black cat. But what she has been up too is a session for another day.

With the coming of dawn, is the chirping of a clockwork bird. Unlike most birds however, this one is completely out of tune and sounds more like a cat attempting to use its tongue as a guitar. Maybe if said bird hadn't pissed so many people off, maybe she would have a better voice. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

"Time to wake up everyone!" the bird announced and landed on the roof a cabin. "Let's rise and shine, get this day started!"

Reluctantly, the occupants of said cabins file out. Of which, the group includes a void mage, a banana-wielding pants-wearing dino, and some guy with a diary were just a few of the occupants displaced by this mess.

"We're up now." the void mage whispered as her flame lion digimon slowly approaches her.

"I'm hungry!" the digimon announced as his master ignored his usual cries. "Can I have something to eat?"

"You realize there's fruit all around us?" the void mage answered as the flame lion just stared at her with a look of utter confusion. How this fact managed to escape this head is beyond me. "You can just go to one of the many fruit trees around her and pick something off of it."

"Oh."

Almost on cue, the 'rest' of the occupants filed out of their cabins. Each one, just as groggy as the void mage. They probably had wanted to sleep in their own beds, in their own homes. If only that could be possible within this war-ravaged world. Even with most of the main angels focused on Delta, that still left hundreds of nameless angels to terrorize this land. One day was all it took for this land to fall, as the two great armies that had once aspired to conquer this world fell to the ashes. But their 'ruler' knew that from the beginning. After all, what better way to get rid of those who threaten your plan by letting them fall to their doom? After all, those sorts of things really help unify the occupants of this world together nicely, right?

After finding that the jester would not help them, a handful of people went to her mother, a warrior on or possibly even stronger than her daughter. But when they found her, they knew she wouldn't be much help at the moment. After that failure, a few brave souls trudged their way to Despair High, inquiring to the cloud of mist for assistance. All they received was a nicely typed letter telling them to go fuck themselves. A few crazier souls made their way too Despair Jungle, with only a handful of them not ending up as food for the kimeramon. With all other options seemingly out of reach, those that still walked these grounds went to their last resort, the dark blades. In exchange for lodging, they would help with the upkeep of the base. It was a fair trade, kept up to this point.

As that monologue finished, we move from the cabins into the heart of the plantation. Here, the main base of the dark blades stands triumphantly, unable to be destroyed by whatever or whoever seeks to bring to such a state. Even then, it looked like an average house one could find all across the world. The only really interesting thing about the exterior was the jalopy parked in front of it, a mixture of at least a dozen different cars. How they managed to build such a thing is a mystery that even I don't have the answer to.

With that out of the way, we enter the house. Unlike the quite normal exterior displayed outside, the interior was that of a dusty and dark catacombs. Tunnels led off in all sorts of directions and angles, making navigating this place an exercise in mapping and patience. Both of which I possess little of, sadly. As such, we'll be skipping the maze and just go directly to the sleeping quarters of the dark blades. Even then, most of these tunnels looked identical and probably would lead to the exact same places we were going in the first place. With six members now, that still meant that some of these tunnels have probably never been walked down. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After all, we have just arrived in the most dangerous room within the entire base, the sleeping quarters.

At first glance, it doesn't look that impressive. Just a plain stone room with a couple of torches giving off light. Seven sleeping bags were scattered about the average-sized room, each one containing a single member. A large red salamander laid in the corner, keeping the room warm. It was nice and serene in a way, if you didn't count the ringing cell phone in the background. Playing some obscure screamo track. On full blast. Even if you were a couple feet from the entrance, you could still hear it. How these idiots manage to sleep to it, is bey-

"Is that so?" a voice announced and the author suddenly teleported away. "If you're still here, I armed and I know how to kill you!"

No response is given to her threat, for it would break my own rules. After all, one doesn't want have a repeat of the Mahora Incident. You just don't.

"Figures." the figure whispered and went over to their cell phone, not ready to deal with anything at this hour. "Hello?"

"It's me, Vanessa." the voice on the other end whispers. "Can I ask you a favor?"

Vanessa takes a deep breath, grabbing her longswords from her bag. She holds the phone back up to her ear, relieved to hear her friends's voice one more time.

"I guess, Aaron." Vanessa answered and headed down the tunnel. "Where are you?"

"On Witchlny with you-know-who a-."

Vanessa ripped the phone away from her ear and flung it against the stone wall. Of all the people Aaron could have possibly gotten stuck with, he had managed to get stuck with the one person that she hated the most.

"Of course he did." Vanessa whispered and makes her way down the tunnel towards the entrance. She then exits the base and takes a few steps towards the jalopy. Her mind then wandered, focusing on the thought of possibly taking her teammates and salamandermon with her.

"What about us?"

The former leader turned around, finding her teammates and their singular digimon standing before her. While outnumbered, Vanessa still held the edge over them.

"Where are you going?" one of the girls accused and charged their elemental moves up.

"I'm going to take the jalopy to help an old friend of ours." she finally answered. "I'm just going to take salamandermon and that's it."

The other dark blades stared at her with a mix of confusion and sadness. They all wanted to go with her, having fought tooth and nail to get her back oh so long ago. But for her to just abandon them again, it felt like a frozen slap to each member's face.

"Are you sure?" a boy announced, pulling a pair of kunai out. "We're a team. Teams stick together, no matter what threat they have to face."

Vanessa took a deep breath and smiled. While Kage's logic was sound, that wasn't how the world works. Sometimes, you just needed to go out on your own, even if everyone else doesn't agree with you.

"I'm sorry guys." Vanessa answered and motioned for salamandermon to follow. "I'll come back after, bringing redemption for what they did to us."

Her teammates stared at her with a confused look, cautious of her words. Ever since 'her death', things had been much different. While they did manage to get Vanessa back, she always seemed distant and lonely.

"Are you sure about this?" a different boy shouted and was ignored by Vanessa.

"Well, I'm off to kill Fate Averruncus and save Aaron." Vanessa finally answered as everyone suddenly focuses in on her. "This is the only chance I have to set things right."

With that, Vanessa makes her way into the jalopy and starts it up. The vehicle then zooms away as the other dark blades watch on...

* * *

Notes:

And that's that.

Yes, the title of this session is a callback to DA03. Along with that, there is a reference or two to Project Digital thrown in as well. Heck, it even turned out longer than I had originally planned for it to be.

.

Next Time: Welcome to Witchlny! Go to prison!


	46. Waiting Game

Session 46

Waiting Game

Aegiochusmon sighed.

He was pretty certain this was the eighth time he had gone through his extensive list of contacts within this mostly padded room.

"How could all thirty-five of these idiots not have their phones on?!" the harem mage announced and slammed his fist into a puffed-up wall. "The one time I need to get out and nobody's answering…"

Aegiochusmon focused on the small window of his cell. There, Aaron and Gentleman stood outside.

"I still have it, Fate." Aaron whispered as he sat himself down in a chair. "You can take a deep breath now."

It felt weird to be called that after so long. These days, he just went by Aegiochusmon. Who would even believe that this demonic satyr thing was once one of the strongest mages to ever walk this magical realm? Not at all. They probably would think he was just some animal caught out in the digital world by some big shot only to get loose, taking out a couple of audience members in a wild rampage. Yet that didn't make much sense in his mind. He was pretty certain wild animals had more rights than he currently had. Especially the one requiring them to be able move around within his pen. He could take a step in any direction and bump into a wall. Add in the magic-inhibiting bracelet around his left wrist, things weren't going that great for him.

"So, how did your phone calls go?" Aegiochusmon inquired as he gazed through the pane of glass housed in the front wall, giving it a slight tap.

"I managed to contract Lord Keiserine." Gentleman casually answered and shifted his chair forward a few inches. "She is doing alright, even if she didn't sound that happy."

Aegiochusmon's gaze focused on Aaron, who gave the harem mage a shrug.  
"I talked to Vanessa." Aaron continued. "While she is coming to help us get out of here, she isn't that happy about seeing you."

He then gazed towards the harem mage, watching for some sort of reaction or change in expression. Aegiochusmon's expression didn't change at all.

"What is it now? 3000 years?" Aegiochusmon answered and chuckled. Aaron only made a quick glance down at the ground and suddenly felt very old.

"Yeah."

"Personally, the slut should have gotten over it by now." Aegiochusmon remarked and smiled. "Even then, she takes a lot from you."  
Aaron groaned and the two laughed as Gentleman watched on. While he wasn't quite sure of what the two were really talking about, they seemed to known each other for some time. While the small talk was nice, they could only be there for so long.

"So, what is our plan to get you out?" Gentleman whispered and Aegiochusmon took another deep breath and smiled. "I doubt any of us want to watch you waste away in this padded box."

"We prove that I didn't cause the Mahora Incident."

Silence hung heavily in the air, thick as steel. One could easily forge a weapon from the silence and use it in battle against those that strike them down. And for good reason too. After all, there exist only a small handful of times when such massacres have occurred. Of which, nearly all of them occurred upon the soil of the digital world. Except one.

The arcane grounds of Mahora Academy weren't really anything that unique. Other than their innate magnetism towards weirdness and their hilariously lax job requirements at just being a ten year old, they were like most other realms that could be found within other (possibly saner) multiverses. All it took was one day for everything to change. Had Aegiochusmon known of the events that would have go down that day, maybe he would have possibly been able to stop it.

The harem mage had just began class when the first dominos began to fall. Most of his students had already gotten there, with the exception of two girls. The first girl was just some background character that one could ignore for their insignificance to the story. The second on the other hand, held much more significance within here. Her name was Chacha and she was to be the hero of this little story. In a perfect world, this would be the person one would root for. But the digitalverse is far from a perfect world, is it not?

It was in this classroom where everything went downhill. All it took was one simple complaint, of which was so unimportant that not even the person writing is going to take the time to even look and see what it even was. It definitely didn't equal the person who complained getting a few dozen hits to the head with a bat. For that, the person in question faced the consequences for their stupid action. This turned out to be the stripping of powers and having to mingle with 'commoners'. When the dust settled, only she remained trapped within her own personal prison. A fitting punishment if you ask me.

"Just shut up, author." Aegiochusmon snarled and did his best attempt of imitating your's truly. "We get it already! You don't have to remind us every fucking time!"

The author remained silent and probably mumbled something under his breath. There wasn't any use in getting angry at the harem mage, even if what he was saying was true. Aegiochusmon would just have to get over it, especially if he wanted to get out of his glass cell anytime soon. He was just going to have to move on with his life, as hard as it seemed to be.

"So, we just need to prove this girl caused the Mahora Incident?" Gentleman inquired and Aegiochusmon reluctantly nodded. For now, they needed to stick to the goal at hand. They would just have to prove Aegiochusmon's innocence against the very beings that had already made their decision without even a second of doubt. It was a squeaky wheel sort of battle, the sort that is so lopsided by design that it pretty much breaks all but the ones who are supposed to be making the big important choices. They just blissfully toil away, straight up ignoring the possibly a dangerous matter that needs addressing now in the hope that it'll smooth over sometime in the future. Rarely, does such an optimistic outcome occur. It instead leads to even more pain and darkness. These are the sort of things that break people down and tear them apart into a million itty-bitty pieces. But once you do get a hold of them finally and the sides come to a conclusion, only then can one walk away and let go. If you keep hanging on to it, you just create a bigger mess. This is easier said and done of cou-

"Can we get back to the main story then?" Gentleman shouted as the author was cut off. It was probably for the better, after the last long "Good."

The ultimate then got up from the chair and headed too the door. While he did that, Aaron slowly approached the glass of Aegiochusmon's cell. The detective took a deep breath and sighed. There weren't many things he could say at this point to soften the blow at this point. But, he would have to try.

"Hang in there." he whispered and headed towards the door, taking a deep breath in the process. "Goodbye, Fate."

Aegiochusmon watched as Aaron walked out through the door, shutting the lights off along the way.

"Good luck, Aaron." Aegiochusmon whispered and smiled. If things worked out how he expected them too, this would be just a temporary arrangement until he could get back to them. "I know you're here. It's just me now."

His newfound guest mumbled something under their breath and sat themselves down in a chair.

"Now, what would you like to ask me?" Aegiochusmon whispered. "After all, it is quite a pleasure for the slutty white mage to grace little old me with their presence."

* * *

Notes:

Interesting, very interesting.

For now, I'm going to take a short break and do some editing on some of the older chapters. Possibly, I might start Session 47, That, and work on a special project for July...

.

Next Time: An interrogation, hopefully. Maybe some backstory to Gentleman too, while were at it.


	47. Distractions & Diversions

Session 47

Distractions & Diversions

The outside areas of Witchelny were an interesting experience for Aaron and Gentleman.

For one, there seemed to be an immense surplus of mages and magical digimon around every corner, clumping up into large crowds no matter the time of day. It made finding this one girl a whole lot harder for Aaron and Gentleman. Nor was this helped by the lack of a description given by Aegiochusmon. On the other hand, Aaron finally got another chance to finally be brown cloaked guy with healing aur- I mean Shamon.

"Real helpful, author." Aaron whispered and took a deep breath. The author did have a point. Of the five members that made up Delta, he had only gotten to use his infusion form only twice. Nine times out of ten, he could hold his own without it, but still. That just didn't seem fair in his book. In a perfect world, this would be an easy to solve problem. But considering this is the digitalverse were talking about, such a change would be quite a tall order. It probably require the manipulation of both time and space in order to change the series of events. While possible, I'm not going to do it.

"Why not?" Aaron accused and attempted to comprehend what the author could possibly get by not changing this totally meaningful point. To answer his question, not much. Because I prefer things mostly how they currently are at. "Fine, I'll let that slide. But you got to have a better reason than that."

The author didn't answer, deciding it was probably better to let silence do it for him. Reluctantly, Aaron turned his attention to a nearby stall propped up on the edge of the walkway. It was one of those box and banner sets, the place one would usually buy some ice cold lemonade and a chocolate chip cookie. While usually subpar, one could overlook that and appreciate the effort put in the stall.

"Is there anything I can get for you?" a voice announced and Aaron looked around. Eventually, his gaze focused down on a small child. It was clothed quite simply, just a bunch of sewn rags slight resembling a shirt and a makeshift pair of pants. Yet, his clean face and nicely done brown hair seemed to betray him.

"Yes." Aaron whispered and got down on his knees. "I'm looking for a person."

"Let me guess, your girlfriend?" the kid answered with a cocky smile. "Vanessa Arcana? That crazy bitch 'sister' of Victoria?"  
Aaron sighed and pulled a potion vial out, making a mental note in his mind. While he did that, Gentleman then walked up and pointed all eight of his swords in the kid's direction.

"How dare you call a woman that?!" Gentleman announced and smashed the stand into a million pieces. "Especially for a woman you have even met yet!"

The kid just stood there and laughed. To him, this was all one big joke being acted out by Aaron and Gentleman. It was the sort of thing that always seems to make a straightforward situation that much more difficult to handle.

"Maybe I have met her once." the kid answered snidely with a smile. "But she is not who I'm after."

"And who would be that be?" Aaron whispered, unsure of whether to press the matter further or not.

"Elena Yuliana, of course." the boy's smile then grew wider, seeming even more ready to pull something that the author would not like at all. "She may have pissed me off and took something of mine."

"Care to explain what act she did to piss you off?"

The boy did not answer, deciding to instead pull a sword out.

"It's a secret to everyone."

 **Alchemist's Wrath!**

Aaron flung the vial out, watching as a bunch of green goop gathered around their opponent and rain even more vials down upon him.

 **Gentleman's Honor!**

Gentleman threw a rose towards their opponent, making sure that it did make contact with the kid. What followed, was the rose exploding and creating a tornado of petals to tear the kid up. When the dust settled though, the stupid kid was just standing there.

"Well you tried." the kid announced as a fist connected with his mouth. "Hey, no fair!"

"Well life isn't fair." Aaron whispered as a smile flashed across his face. "Eventually, you're just going to meet someone that just doesn't like you."

With that out of the way, he headed on and motioned for Gentleman to follow.

"Aren't you going to finish me off?!" the child shouted and got no response from either guy. It was probably better that way, even if it left the very extremely dangerous possibility of the kid deciding to go through with exacting his revenge on Elena. But we will just have to cross that bridge when we come around to it. "Fine then, I'll just go through with it!"  
The kid and his 'stall' then teleported away, leaving both Gentleman and Aaron even more confused.

"Who the heck even was that?" the detective whispered and got a shrug from his 'partner'.

"I'm just as confused as you are." Gentleman answered as they weaved their way through the crowds. "But I doubt that will be the last time we'll see him."

Almost on cue, the kid just reappeared. Only this time, he seemed to be holding a pocketwatch.

"So, I went through with it!" the kid announced as he flashed another smile. "You should have really seen how she reacted!"

As tempting as it would be for the author to just throw down one of his alternate 'assistants' and watch it just wreck this asshole, that wouldn't be that fun. As such, I'll just have to wait and see if such a revenge will possibly occur.

"What the fuck is even going on?" Aaron whispered as both he and Gentleman shrugged. After a certain amount of time within this multiverse, you just get used to all the weird going around you. Eventually, it just becomes a normal part of the messy thing one calls life. But on the flip side, anything that would be considered normal seems foreign here. Actually going to grocery store to get groceries? We're just going to trek through the wilderness and maybe mug some forest animals. "Okay. Let's try this again, shall we?"  
Their opponent only laughed, possibly seeing all of this as just a harmless joke. And while yes, it's good to have a little fun to lighten the mood and all, it should never have to come at the price of the feelings and/or lives of others. For that, you're just going to have to move on, Timekeeper.

"So we know his name." Aaron thought and took a deep breath. He then walked over to the child, making sure this wasn't some kind of trap. "I'm going to have too take this away from you."

Cautiously, Aaron snatched the pocketwatch away and put it in his pocket. While a hollow victory, it had to be done to possibly prevent this bad future.

"Good for fucking you." the kid shouted as gusts of wind began to circle around him. "You were always useless fifth wheel that always seemed to lag behind everyone else. You have always wanted to find the truth of what happened, never once thinking of the things that you've given up. You have taken up so many burdens, all just so you can be a guardian angel for those that have lost hope."

"So what?" Aaron remarked as the boy laughed for the unteenpth time. He and probably everyone else within the area were probably getting tired of that. They had a person they needed to find and this guy was just wasting their time. "Yes, I can't save everyone or learn the answer to every question I have. I'm fine with that. Each event in life is a chance to fix what you did wrong in the past. You got to keep going on, giving 110%. Even if at times it does seem hopeless."

With that speech, the pocketwatch was engulfed in a small sphere of light. When the ball of light disappeared, a nice silver pocketwatch with a red cross had taken the place of it. Elsewhere, the light from it was helping a certain rabbit and troll out. But will catch up with much later.

"Okay then." Aaron whispered and returned his gaze to his opponent.

"Oh well, you guys were boring anyway." the kid shouted as his face shifted into a grin. "Even then, you won't find Usagi here."

Both Aaron and Gentleman took a deep breath. As futile as their search had been, they at least had some new information to work off of.

"I'm lea-" before the kid could utter one more word, a longsword pierced through his chest. "Oh look! Here she is!"

Vanessa took a deep breath and stabbed her other longsword into the idiot's upper chest.

"Are you just going to leave now?" Vanessa shouted as the child finally complied and decided to not fuck any more things than he already had in this one chapter alone. "Now, take me to Fate."

Reluctantly, Aaron and Gentleman led the possible crazy psycho to where they were holding Aegiochusmon. Instead, they found Jestery standing in the cell and wearing the magical suppressing artifact thing around her neck. Cora was sitting in one chairs, totally not happy with the situation Jestery had gotten them into this time.

"Surprise! Jestery is here!" Jestery announced as the trio walked in. "Oh hi grandma!"

"I am not your grandma." Vanessa snarled as Cora rolled her eyes. "I refuse to acknowledge that slutty whore as my sister!"

Aaron looked towards Jestery, unsure of what the two girls were even talking about.

"You're still pissed about that?" Jestery added and leaned up against the glass. "It's been over three thousand years, I believe you can bury the hat-"

 **Clock Breaker!**

Time then froze for a few brief seconds, allowing Cora to slam her left leg into the glass and rattle Jestery up a little bit. Afterwards, time resumed its normal pace.

"I guess I have to explain what happened." Cora whispered and took a deep breath. "For both you people and the viewers."

As she said that, Aaron, Gentleman and Vanessa sat themselves down and got themselves comfortable.

* * *

Notes:

Did not plan for this to be as long as it turned out to be. Oh well. Even then, a whole lot of this and probably the next chapter is pretty much setting up the next couple of arcs.

And yes, we will be see that annoying kid some more in the next arc.

Along with that, DAO has hit 2000 views! As such, I would like to thank everyone for their support.

.

Next Time: Explanations and the possibility of burying the hatchet...


	48. A beautiful mess

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 48

A beautiful mess

"Is everyone ready?"

The two humans and the ultimate digimon nod their heads.

"Wait! Can Jestery tell this story?" Jestery announced as Cora sighed.

"No." Cora answered and gave Jestery a glare. Sadly, this wasn't enough to prevent the jester from talking. Maybe they should have duct-taped her mouth instead.

"Anything but that! Jestery does not want the duct tape!"

Cora took another deep breath and smiled. Or would have, if Jestery hadn't decided to ignore to her.

"Our story begins like this…" Jestery explained as her partner thought back on it all.

.

Cora Desaet sat in a chair, awaiting her possible fate within the white room designated as 'the waiting area'.

It was one thing to reassure oneself you did well enough to get the job, it was another to have some sort of indication that she had done well enough. For such a prestigious position, she had expected it to be even more cutthroat and unpredictable. Instead, every part of the process was designed to be as calming and zen as possible. While odd, it did seem to make this process much more enjoyable.

"Just a few more minutes." she thought and took a deep breath. Knowing what she did know now, the former scientist would have left and never came back. But like everyone else here, it was the one mistake that changed everything. It's funny how that works out.

"Cora Desaet?"

"Yes?!" Cora perked up and shifted forwards in her chair. A man poked his head through the door. He looked to be in his mid twenties, with a bunch of pale white hair and dressed in a light gray jumpsuit and shoes. Even then, the former scientist was pretty certain that her estimate was off by a whole lot. The man opened the door and allowed Cora inside.

Unlike the bland white room she had just left, the decorators had the decency to apply some olive green wallpaper to the walls and change out the dreadful carpet for some nice-looking oak hardwood floors. In the middle was a half-circle table with twelve people sitting there. Six sat on the left, one in the middle and five to the left.

"Now, now. Please take a seat." one of the figures whispered. It was possibly the weird figure of black mist seated among the people on the right, but Cora couldn't be that sure. She sat herself down in the vacant chair, finding it to be just as uncomfortable as the previous one. Not that complaining about it would really help her case at the moment.

"So, what would you like to ask me about?" Cora answered and attempted to focus on all twelve gazes at once.

"Not much." the silver haired man added and cracked a smile. "Just a few miscellaneous things."

Cora took another deep breath and smiled. While she wasn't out of the woods yet, it was a start.

"Are you ready?"

The former scientist nodded as everything went black.

When her vision finally did return, she found herself alone within a dark and mostly empty void. Other than herself, a large egg sat some distance away from her. Unlike the average chicken egg though, this one was decorated with orange and blue paint splotches. Occasionally, there was a little smudge of violet thrown in for good measure.

"Okay then." Cora whispered and slowly approached the egg, a feeling of familiarity coming forth and getting stronger with each step she took. By the time she had finally reached the egg the feeling had become some sort of deja-vu. But at the same time, that couldn't be. She had lived in the same house her entire life, with only the occasional trip to Adventureland or Ka'yona for special occasions. Usually, it was just holidays and birthdays with mom and grandma. Yet she found herself only able remember the big picture but not the close reading of events.

"What am I even doing?" Cora whispered and glanced down at herself. Gone was her casual outfit, having been replaced with the outfit of a french maid. "Oh wonderful, I guess god does have a sense of humor."

Cora then turned her gaze to the egg, possibly wondering when it would hatch. She placed her hand on it and took a step, watching as a crack formed and light bleeded out. The egg then exploded and littered the area with eggshell and particles of light. Yet, Cora wasn't focusing on that. Instead, she was focusing on the small body that laid in place of the egg. It appeared to be that of a newborn baby coated head-to-toe in white costume paint. Even then, it seemed to contrast with the baby's bluish violet eyes and slightly pink lips.

"Now, what should I name you?" Cora whispered and took a deep breath. There had to be an infinite amount of options what she could name the child, but one option kept coming up. "How about Jestery?"

The baby perked up and smiled. Cora could only guess that it liked the name she was given. With that, the craziest journey of her life began. Each day was it's own adventure. Whether it be trying to explain to the third-person speaking god why she couldn't have another cookie before dinner or trying to get a legitimate explanation for why a large pterodactyl made of bubbles was flying around within the void. In the end, it was all a mixed bag.

For all the times she had wanted to go back and change things, there were moments that made it worth it. Yet one thing never did seem to go away, not even after 3000 years. Why was she able to remember so much then, but almost unable to see anything before that point? Even with her time manipulation abilities, she could only review so much and go so far back. In the end, she always seemed to come back to the same place,

.

"And that is how Jestery got stuck in here."

"That's it?" Vanessa whispered and turned her attention towards Jestery. "Then doesn't even answer my question!"

"What was your question then?" Jestery answered and cracked a wide smile. "After all, we were told by Aegiochusmon to just stall you."  
Vanessa pulled her longswords out as a pair of butterfly swords appeared in Jestery's hands. As menacing as it sounded, the jester had used them for an arts and craft project. The pair of weapons had been sloppily covered in glitter, feathers, fabric and all sorts of glue with bells hanging from purple ribbon at the hilt. In a way, subtleness had jumped out of a window and committed suicide.

"Bring it, liars!" Vanessa slammed both of her longswords into the glass and watched as it shattered into a million tiny pieces. "I'll tear both you and your maid into a million pieces!"

Aaron shifted up from his chair and turned to face Vanessa.

"This isn't worth it." he whispered as his girlfriend ignores him. "Can't we all be friendly here?"

Cora's gaze then focused in on him, a confused look glazed upon it.

"You were expecting social skills?" Cora whispered as Aegiochusmon entered the room. "I believing you're looking in the wrong place."

As much as Aaron wanted to follow this up with a just as useful question, the detective decided against it. Instead, he would just watch the fireworks play out.

With that truly deep thought out of the way, we return our attention back to Jestery and Vanessa.

 **Jestery Trick!**

Jestery then flung both of her swords at her opponent, watching as the blades did the work for her. Only for Vanessa to charge towards to her and attempt to slash her into as many itty-bitty pieces as possible. While futile, it was an interesting strategy to use upon her opponent. She had probably had been saving it for Aegiochusmon. But he was probably long gone by this point, making his way to Polly and Chacha through some unrevealed portal. And so we take one last look at this beautiful mess, with not a care in the world.

.

Elena Yuliana opens her eyes.

The cabin in Honessa she had been calling home was long gone now, having been replaced with a black void. She took a deep breath and made a quick examination of herself. While everything looked to be the same as before, Lily was nowhere to be found. Instead, she found the kid from the previous chapter gracing her with his presence.

"You're awake." the kid whispered as Elena focused upon him. "Have you forgotten me?"

"No." the gale corsair whispered and pulled her kris out. Out of all the people she could have ran into, it just had to be him. Figures...

* * *

Notes:

Yeah, this chapter is kind of a mess. But I'm fine with that. Not every chapter is going to be perfect.

Other than that, a lot of this was just setting up the next couple of arcs.

.

Next Time: The past is a funny thing...


	49. My Road

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 49

My Road

Memories.

Alice had that Suiko consciousness spirit thing. Joey had his tea-obsessed purple pig thing. Polly had Aegiochusmon and that pudding-cup hating robot. And Aaron had his notebooks. But for Elena, there wasn't anything. To the person standing before her, she was just his possible puppet to use for personal gain. Which she definitely wasn't.

"Oh look! Even god is rooting for you!" her opponent shouted. "Isn't that nice. Also, get out of my sight and go fuck yourself."

The author decided to just ignore the response. It was easier and much saner in the long run. Even if he did want to respond with an inappropriate comment back.

Elena only rolled her eyes and just stood there. It wouldn't really matter what she did at this point, his action was still the same. She would be rapidly aged up until she died, with a whole bunch of fake memories thrown in for good measure. The gale corsair was certain those were only thrown in to just fuck with her on the way down, all because her parents weren't up to the same point as everyone else at the same time.

"Quite hilarious, isn't it?" Timekeeper whispered and cracked a smile. "In the end, your fate was already dictated. There is no choice, only the illusion of it."

Elena didn't even respond to his comment and continued to stand there in silence. She was just going to have to stand up to him, even if it costed her this life and body. Not even fear would be able to hold her down against him. Eventually the time would come and fortune would rain down upon her.

"Fortune…" she thought and mentally laughed as her thoughts drifted to Alice. Ever since the members of Delta had gotten separated on Alternis v2, it was Alice that she wanted to know the fate of the most. Of course, she wanted to know what happened to everyone else as well. It just wasn't at the same level of desire as the gambler, that's all. "May it shine upon me once more."

Elena took a deep breath and nothing happened. These sort of things took time, which she had either infinite amount or quite little of. It all depended on how one looked at the current situation. Technically, time didn't flow, leaving one with as much of it to enjoy in eternal bliss. But at the same time, that meant time was still 'moving' and made getting to a desired point in time an interesting challenge.

"Oh, come on now." Timekeeper whispered as he walked over to Elena. "Do you have to be so stoic? Nobody other than the author actually gives a shit of what you do at all. Come on, I bet you really want to chew my ass a little bit."

Elena continued to stand there in defiance to her opponent. They both had their desired outcomes for this event and neither seemed ready to humor the idea of compromising. Well, if there was any good way to really 'compromise' when chrono powers are involved in a situation.

"Just a little longer." the gale corsair thought and took a deep breath. Her chance would come soon enough, but she had to give it time. This sort of thing were best not rushed. When they were, it usually ended with somebody becoming super old and/or turning into dust. All while believing they had lived a great life. This sort of thing only made Elena madder, reminding her of what happened even more.

She was just an egg then, waiting to be hatched by an idiot of a summoner and a reanimated corpse. Because you know, logic is a rare commodity to be found within Drogaciji Academy. But I'm getting ahead of myself. After having to talk to their principal, the two made their way into a large open room and put 'her' on a table. She didn't actually know what they were going to do next, since that was the exact moment 'he' showed up. Supposedly, he subjected the two idiots to some memory implanting, which failed quite miserably. All that was achieved was a fight between the two over what had happened to her. Well, Elena hoped that what they were fighting over. Not something stupid like who took the last cookie from its jar. It wouldn't surprise me that much. As they did that, the currently naked corsair had made her way down the hallway, searching for clothes along with the possibility of someone to help her out.

"Hello, child." a voice whispered and Elena looked around. Yet nowhere she looked, the corsair was unable to find where the voice had came from. "Down here."

Elena stared down to the ground, finding a black cat wearing a small matching witch hat.

"Uh… who are you?" Elena whispered and got down on her knees as she stared to her new friend.

"I'm Liora, magic teacher here at Drogaciji Academy." the cat whispered and placed a paw on the corsair's face. "You don't look like you're around here. Who are you?"

"Uh... Elena Yuliana." Elena answered as her gaze focused on the ground. "Just some nobody."

Liora shook her head and stared towards the girl.

"That is not true at all, child." the naked corsair gaze returned to Liora's face. "Everyone is somebody. You just need someone or something to be your anchor within this swirling whirlpool known as life."

Elena then stood back up as Liora headed off, leading them to a small office not that from where they had just met. It wasn't anything

"Since you're not a student, we can't technically take you in. But, we can provide you with some basic necessities."

"Uh… thanks." Elena whispered as she was handed some clothes, quickly getting herself dressed and grabbed a messenger bag off a nearby bookcase.

"Take these as well."

The cat handed over a pair of kris, watching as the corsair took a few nervous stabs at the air.

"Thank you." she added and shoved the daggers onto the belt of her sundress. "I should probably get going."

"Are you sure?"

The corsair nodded as Liora watched on, not even attempting to stop Elena as she exited her office and head back down the hall. After all, one can only learn when they can soar freely through the sky with nothing holding them down.

Elena quickly made her way to the destination, constantly making sure she didn't attract the attention of her classmates.

"Hey!"

The corsair turned around, finding Officer EMT standing before her. He seemed quite confused, having already met her outside the building just a couple of hours before. Not that the corsair knew that, mind you. It probably wasn't helped by the overload of heroes the troll was forced to fight a mere hour ago.

"Crud." Elena thought and took a deep breath. While she wasn't quite sure who this guy even was, it was probably best to just leave him alone. She would just have to run faster if she wanted to make it in time.

"Come back here!" EMT shouted as he gave chase down the hall. Thankfully, the hallway emptied out into their destination not that long after their chase began. Here Elena found her parents, still bickering over something pointless. Along with them, stood Timekeeper with pocketwatch in hand.

"There you are." he whispered and cracked a twisted smile. "Would you kindly come over to me?"

Elena mumbled something under her breath as she charged towards him, making sure to knock the pocketwatch to the ground.

"Uh… oopsy." the corsair answered as she scooped the device up and headed towards the side exit. "Goodbye."

With that, she exited the building.

.

"Are you done monologuing and/or showing this pointless flashback?" Timekeeper shouted as we return to the black void, where Elena still stood in silence. "Good. Let's cut to the chase, shall we?"

Elena took a deep breath as Timekeeper walked over and placed a hand on her back.

"All I need you to do is to accept the original choice. I'll forgive you and we will both be able to move on with our lives. After that, you're free to choose what to do with your life."

Elena looked away and quietly debated her actions. As nice as this all sounded on paper, there was obviously a catch within this. She guessed that would be her memories, how few they possibly may be. In the end, was it truly worth giving everything up on such a flimsy promise. Or does one refuse, choosing to gamble on fate one more time? And so we return back to the question. Were things better then than they were now?

Elena took a deep breath and turned her attention to the opponent.

"No." she whispered and switched into her Arresternostmon form. "I'm not in the mood to play this game at all."

"Is that so?" Timekeeper whispered and clapped his hands, making a 2h dao broadsword appear from thin air. The weapon appeared to be made of only metal.

"Just shut up." Timekeeper whispered as a twisted smile formed on Elena's face. "Oh crap."

 **Memory Spirits!**

Instead of the usual handful of slightly-transparent birds shooting out from the corsair, a massive purple bird had appeared. It then soared through the air, proceeding to slam into the wall of this enclosure and create With that out of the way, Elena made her way over to the hole and stood there.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Timekeeper accused as Elena turned around and smiled. "You can't do that!"

"Says who?" Elena remarked and fell backwards towards the rift, her smile growing larger. "I'm just taking my own path and your deal is not part of it."

With that, the gale corsair began free falling towards the void. It was a pleasant sort of experience, the kind of thing you only get to experience once. After that, it doesn't quite have the same punch upon repeated instances. A few minutes then passed of her. In the distance, a large mass of land spun around in all sorts of directions and angles with the familiar castle-like building of Drogaciji Academy jutting out of it.

"Here I am." she thought and took a deep breath, casually landing on the familiar ground of her 'home'. Inside, she could just make out Alice and her party of companions. "Alice!"

"Elena!"

The gale corsair then charged towards Alice, embracing the lucky gambler in a massive hug and knocked both of them to the floor.

"It's been too long." both girls whispered as their lips met in harmony. What followed, was a short session of them making out as their partners watched on.

"Once this is all said and done, we should have some fun." Alice whispered as the two broke away.

"Absolutely." Elena added as a soft growling filled the air. "Crap."

The whole group turned around, finding a normal brown bear standing before him with an unconscious Lily and Adarnamon lying beside it.

"Figures. Of course Wholebear is the only one here when she shows up." the bear whispered and a dogbowl filled with vodka appeared. "Fine. It's about time we got this over with."

* * *

Notes:

This chapter is going up a bit earlier than I had originally planned, since I'll be out of town for a week.

I might have hidden a hint to the identity of Timekeeper. While quite obvious and specific, I doubt you'll figure it out. As such, prove me wrong.

Other than that, we got our first ship! AlicexElena for the win!

.

Next Time: A couple of plot points are resolved and stuff as we ease into the next arc. In other words, nothing special.


	50. Long Overdue

I still don't own digimon, but I do own the digitalverse.

* * *

Session 50

Let the good times roll

In between chapters, Wholebear led the large group into his office. It wasn't anything that truly impressive, just four oak-covered walls with a light blue carpet. A couple chairs and a ratty couch were scattered around the room. The only sense of order actually came from the desk Wholebear was currently sitting behind.

For Alice Zwingli, this didn't make that much sense. In many ways, it felt weird to have a bear being the one to grill her for an incident that occurred two years ago. Even as she and Elena sat in front of Wholebear, the gambler still would have preferred to sat on the couch with their digimon and Suiko instead. It was probably more comfortable than the chair she was currently sitting on.

"Our teammates consist of the son of a crazy creator of robotic angels, a reincarnated harem girl, a three-millennia old detective, a weird hybrid bird girl and Miss Alice with whatever the heck Miss Suiko even is." Yokozamon explained and scratched his fur. "Add in that robot with the orbital laser satellite, the dimension travelling plush succubus thing, that mysterious gentleman guy, a dark angel, a spy turkey, me the anthro yakuza dude, the reincarnated harem mage, a scorpion bird thing with an inconsistent personality, the shy pink rabbit healer and a troll police officer that likes to blow stuff up. If you were expecting sense, you're in the wrong multiverse."

"True." Consligmon whispered as he cleaned his gun out. "Kind of crazy how things work out."

Everyone then laughed and returned their attention to Wholebear.

"As I was saying…" Wholebear whispered and took a deep breath. "We are here to discuss Alice Zwingli's punishment for her attempt at killing Gabe and Verena Tanaka, two of this academies greatest former students."

"Wait, my parents graduated from here?" Alice inquired as the irony quickly crept into the room. "So in other words, Suiko and I were used?"

"Pretty much." a voice answered and everyone shifted their gazes to the right, finding Alice's parents just standing there. "Took you long enough to figure that out."

Neither of the girls answered and decided it was much more of a hassle than it was worth. While there was such a hint, there wasn't really any incentive to search for it.

"Sure…" Elena whispered as they all took a deep breath. "So what do you people even want now?"

Both Gabe and Verena then laughed as large cactus thing shuffled in front of them. Strangely, it had a small set of legs that allowed it to walk for some reason.

"Oh… We were just checking on you." Gabe remarked as his gaze shifted into a angry glare towards Alice. "Especially you, Alice."

Alice gave her father a quick glance and returned her vision to Wholebear.

"Just get it over with." she whispered as Wholebear sighed. "Give me my punishment and we'll just get out of here."

Wholebear shifted forwards in his comfy swivel chair, unsure of what to do.

"Alice Zwingli, Wholebear hereby punishes you by transferring ownership of you and Suiko Tanaka over to Elena Yuliana."

Uh… that's not how it works. Even if it was, that still makes no sense at all for a punishment that pretty much equated to a forced marriage.

"Are you serious?!" Gabe and Verena simultaneously shouted and turned their attention to Elena. "How dare you take our daughter away from us! Were her parents!"

"Considering your daughter attempted to kill you two, I doubt she would've done better with you." Lily whispered as Elena rolled her eyes. While this was her first meeting of Alice's parents, she could sort of understand their reaction. On the other hand though, both Alice and Suiko were now sporting an amalgamation of a glare and a frown. Personally, the gale corsair was mixed. While she did kind of set this in motion, Elena doubted she would even go through with the punishment.

"Do I have to go through with this?" she then asked as Wholebear gave her a confused glance. "Can we do something else? That doesn't really make sense as a punishment."

"Wholebear has no clue what you're talking about." Wholebear answered and drank a little bit from his dogbowl. "That's just been the way Drogaciji Academy has been run."

After Wholebear had said that, Elena leaned over and whispered something into Alice's ear. Afterwards, Alice whispered something back.

"We're leaving." Alice announced and motioned for Suiko and their digimon to get up and head towards the door. "Goodbye."

With that, they headed through as the Tanakas watched on for a brief second, only to follow right behind. After all, they couldn't just let them get away that easily.

"Come back here this instant!" Verena shouted as she pulled a revolver out and pointed it towards her 'children' and their friends. "After all, it would truly be a shame for you guys to just die before you even get a glimpse of the final boss."

Elena stopped in her tracks and stared towards the woman, getting a quick glance of Suiko returning to Alice's body as she did.

"Are we talking about that weird guy in that black void?" she inquired and took a deep breath. "If we are, you aren't really being that clever at all."

Verena stopped in her tracks and mumbled something to her husband. Gabe whispered something back and proceeded to pull a minigun out as Yokozamon watched on in horror.

"Don't do it!" the yak shouted and Gabe turned towards him. "If you do, there won't be much of a reason for me to even be around, Mr Tanaka."

Gabe took a deep breath and laughed, cracking a twisted smile towards his opponent.

"If you really meant that, you would've killed me already." Gabe announced as his weapon began to rev up. "I guess we'll have to fix that then, shall we?"

After Gabe said that, Alice grabbed hold of Yokozamon and the two broke into a full-on dash towards the doorway. The rest of their group were right behind, not at all wanting to be left behind within this fucked-up madhouse at all. On the other side. They slammed the doors of the academy shut and moved some rubble in front of it. While a temporary solution to their problem, it would work for now.

"Now what?" Adarnamon shouted as she fluttered in place. For as mad as the bird was for being thrown out of EMT's armored vehicle, she was just glad to at least be in the company of her partner. "Come on, I would like a plan now."

"Give us a minute." Elena answered and her phone went off. "Crud."

She dropped her bag onto the ground and began to fling its contents all around her in order to reach the desired device. Amid the variety of the junk, Alice managed to pull the flip phone out as Elena continued to search.

"Looking for this?" Alice announced and walked over her to Elena, phone in hand.

"Thanks." Elena cracked a smile towards her girlfriend as she pressed 'talk' and put the device on speaker. "Hello?"

A loud cough exited the phone and the speaker cleared their throat.

"Good, you two lesbian sluts are still alive." a familiar voice remarked as everyone perked up and inched their heads closer to the phone.

"Aegiochusmon!" Alice and Elena shouted as the harem mage laughed. "Where are you?"

"In the middle of dimensions, on my way to earth." Aegiochusmon answered. "Well, Earth-B to be exact."

Both girls looked at each other in confusion, unsure of how to respond to the latest in a series of confusing revelations within this wonderful mess. It probably didn't matter in the long run, just some random observation that won't come up again for a while.

"So what do you need from us?" Elena whispered as the group headed towards the edge of the academy, ready to make a quick getaway when the time came.

"Get back to Hunter's End. Hopefully, everyone else will hopefully be there soon."

"Uh.. sounds good?" Alice added as they both sighed and Aegiochusmon hung up. "At least we have some sort of goal instead of endlessly roaming around this multiverse."

"It was in that aimless wandering that I met you." Elena responded as she cracked a smile. "That was what brought us together."

Her girlfriend took a deep breath and smiled back. The two leaned in, only for a loud bang to interrupt them.

'Did you people have to do that?!' Suiko announced as the duo broke away and took a deep breath. 'Just when things were getting good too…"

After she said that, Elena switched forms and motioned for the rest of the group to come over.

"Here's the plan." the gale corsair whispered as she made a quick glance to her side, checking the current status of the door. While it was still holding on through some arcane force, they couldn't rely on it. "Alice and Yokozamon gets on me while Consligmon rides Adarnamon."

"What about me?" Lily inquired as Elena took a deep breath.

"You'll be covering us until we're out of range of this place."

Lily gave a slight nod as Alice and Yokozamon got on Elena, with Consligmon doing something similar with Adarnamon."

With that, they soared up into the air above the shifting void as Gabe and Verena broke the door down,

 **Overkill!**

Yokozamon cautiously stood up and pointed his minigun towards the opposing duo, taking a deep breath as he fired. While these people were Miss Alice's parents, they were probably planning to do something quite nefarious to her and Suiko. He and Consligmon would just have to protect her for the time being.

After a couple rounds of that, they were finally out of range of Gabe and Verena. Out there, they became nothing but little dots amidst the whirlpool of color.

"Fuck. They got away." Gabe whispered as Verena took a deep breath. "A shame too. I was hoping to solve this peacefully."

"Oh well." Verena whispered and leaned on her husband. "When the time comes, we'll settle this."

"Yeah..."

With that, a bright light overcame them and the duo were teleported away...

* * *

Notes:

About time I got that stuff out of the way. Yeah, this chapter isn't that spectactular. But it serves it purpose by setting up a whole bunch of things in the future.

.

Next Time: A little deja vu, why don't we?


	51. Remember

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 51

Remember

Polly took a deep breath.

As nice as it was to be 'free' and able to walk on two legs, the monk magi didn't like the fact that she was 'supposed to' stay in the small room that was being passed off as stadium booth.

"Do I have to stay in this box?" she shouted and walked over to a nearby table, ready to fling it into the nice metal walls.

Yes Polly, you have to stay in the box. While I understand your frustration, it's something you'll have to deal with for the mom-

Before the author's sentence could be finished, the table was now gone and a large table-shaped hole had been created in the wall.

"That works." Polly thought and carefully made her way through it, finding herself in a hallway of marble. From floor to ceiling, every bit of the area was covered in that white stuff. "Okay then."

After making sure to push the rubble and splintered wood to the side, Polly took a left and headed off. It didn't matter to her where the hallway led. As long as it didn't stop with a dead end. After all, that was what her 'current' situation in a nutshell. One never-ending dead end that refused to let her and Chacha go. All because they were 'too precious' in the mind of her parents. As if that would even prevent them from seeing the two girls as 'property'. Which was on the low end of the truly disgraceful stuff The Order was more than happy to do.

"If that's the case, what's the high end then?" Polly inquired, only for the author to suddenly go silent. In retrospect, she probably should've expected this outcome to occur. She was about to return to her journey in the hall when something caught her eye. A couple feet away from her stood a translucent figure, dressed in a burgundy waistcoat with a maroon blouse underneath and a red plaid skirt. Finishing off her look, were the black knee-high socks on her legs and a pair of brown penny loafers on her feet. The rest of her appearance wasn't anything special, just a long brown ponytail that could nearly touch her feet and a pair of chocolate brown eyes with a look of indifference.

"Hello?" Polly whispered as the person looked back in silence. "Who are you?"

"I am you." the figure answered and floated over to the monk magi. "Have you seriously forgotten who you even were before this?"  
Polly stared back with a confused glance, unsure of how to answer this question. She would have said Polly Gostelow back then, just some regular girl that was a little headstrong and into mixed martial arts. Now though, she had no clue. A couple times Aegiochusmon had thrown around the name 'Akira'. She was also certain Aaron had said that name at least once, but the monk magi couldn't remember when or where. There was also Chacha's passing recollection of her, which was along the lines of her being completely useless before and supposedly one of the worst choices Aegiochusmon could have made when choosing a partner.

"I don't know." she finally whispered and attempted to focus her gaze on the figure. Try as she might, it always seemed to shift a little bit to the left or a little bit to the right.

"Of course you don't." the figure whispered and turned around to face her. "You allowed the bright lights and wild sounds of the party to wash it all away."

The figure slowly approached Polly and pointed a finger towards her. As she did, the flesh gave away and left behind a brittle finger bone.

"I have no idea what you're talking about…" Polly whispered and the girl laughed. With that, the rest of her left hand gave away. In its place, was was what appeared appeared to be a mix of red slime and mana. "No, that's impossible..."

The figure then cracked a smile and patted its right hand on the monk magi's head.

"And yet it isn't."

Polly took another step back and stumbled to the ground. When she did, the other girl bent over as her smile twisted into a cocky grin.

 **Mermaid's Droplet!**

Polly attempted to grab hold of the girl, only for both of her hands to catch just air and fell flat on her face.

"How did you manage to dodge that?!" she accused as her opponent just stood there, seeming quite smug of the monk magi's current situation.

"Such a stubborn me." the figure whispered as the rest of her left arm gave way and red slime took the place of it. "Does the past mean nothing to you?!"

Polly stared off into empty space. There was no right answer to this question, was there? She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Maybe if she looked back, some form of an answer would come to her.

She was sixteen now, the past few years having been a blur of bad decision after bad decision. If she didn't make a change now, things would swirl even more out of her control. Yet here the monk laid within a now deserted daiquiri bar. Even the bartender was long gone at this point. How he managed to not notice her was a mystery that probably wouldn't be solved.

"How did I get here?" Polly thought as the world spinned around. "What happened?'

She cautiously pulled herself up, only to fall back onto the ground. The monk was obviously hung-over and would definitely need to find something to cleanse this vile demon within her. But what, exactly?  
Polly took a deep breath and crawled over to the bar. With each inch she moved, the monk made sure to steady herself. After all, one doesn't want to crawl through their own vomit.

"Just a few more inches." she thought and grabbed hold of the bar counter, making sure to steady herself on it. The counter was what one expected to find in this sort of place. Just a slab of wood that had been covered in epoxy. Add in the gray walls with nothing on them and the hardwood floor, it all equaled out into a boring room. Not that Polly was in quite the capacity to properly take in the scenery at all. Those things were for later. Especially for sober people.

"Whatever, author." she whispered and strafed along the counter until she reached the sink. There, the monk flailed her arms until they managed to grab hold of the sink knobs and push one on. Cold water immediately filled the basin and she casually took big gulps from it, a well-meant attempt to purge herself of the demon that supposedly possessed her. Polly spent ten minutes doing that, hoping to god she would be cured. Alas, that would not be the case. After a few minutes of doing that, the monk grip gave way and she blacked out as her head hit the floor. When consciousness was finally regained, Polly found herself still laying on the floor. Only this time, a girl about her age was standing over her. She was dressed quite simply, just a pink dress with a pair of black boots. A pair of hazy cyan eyes stared towards the monk as Polly focused on the girl's matching hair.

"Uh… hi?" Polly whispered and slowly sat up. While her hangover had lessened, she was still in no state to get up and move around. "I'm Polly. Who are you?"

"Lydia." the girl inquired as she watched Polly.

With that, a friendship between the two girls was born. Yet, something felt off about it. Up to the faucet, the events in her mind were what she remembered. But then, this weird feeling of nothingness came over her after. It was as if her mind betrayed her, showing what someone else wanted her to see instead of the truth of the matter.

"So is that your final answer?" her audience accused as we return to the hallway. "What a shame. I was kind of hoping you hadn't sold your soul to these demons…"

Polly didn't answer, instead focusing on something further down the hall. Just barely, she could make out a familiar face of a harem mage. Of course, he was having daiquiris. At a bar.

"Aegiochusmon!" Polly shouted as she ran down the hall, not letting her partner out of her sight. This could be her only chance to break free from the prison that awaited her on the other side. The monk magi would just have to take a chance, hoping to god that it would work. But just as she was about to reach the bar, an airship crashed through the hall and blocked her path.

"What a shame." the figure remarked and floated over to Polly. "And to think, you were so close to your goal!"  
Polly didn't even look towards the person speaking to her, instead deciding to just kneel on the ground. The figure was right. At the same time though, they were wrong.

If she gave up now, everything she had fought for would become nothing but dust...

.

Aegiochusmon sighed.

By some arcane miracle, he had managed to survive. And yet, there was something hollow about it. In his mind, it was just another situation he had walked away from. There was no substance or meaning. Just a sense of loneliness.

"Soon, Polly." the harem mage thought and finished his daiquiri off. Once that was out of the way, he walked over to a far-off wall and gave it a slight tap. "I'll save you."

He then faded away and was teleported off to parts unknown.

* * *

Notes:

Polly's hangover cure actually makes sense. Even then, it still probably would take some time for it to clear up.

.

Next Time: A little sightseeing in the dream world...


	52. Digimon Theme Tri ver

Session 52

Digimon Theme (Tri ver.)

Of the many annoying things to be found within the Digitalverse, traveling across dimensions was quite high up on that list. The only things possibly higher than it were the confusing lore and the author. There exists only one such place where those two things could combine into something much worse. In this case, the Dream World.

"This is it." Aegiochusmon thought as he stood at the edge between dimensional space and this unknown world. "A shame there's no other way than to go through clown slut's realm."

He took a deep breath and stepped across the divide, getting flooded with a bombardment of random images that had no theme or message. It was the sort of thing one expected on a drug trip. Only the person experiencing it wasn't under the influence. After a few seconds of that, this gave way to the destroyed Mahora. For as much as he wanted to stay here, he couldn't. After all, this place was just a 'dream'. Unless you throw everything you got at it, it won't occur.

With that, Aegiochusmon's phone then went off. After digging through his imaginary pockets for a few seconds, he managed to find the device.

"Hello?" the harem mage greeted, only to have it returned with a scream. "Oh it's you, clown bitch."

"Jestery want her candy NOW!" Jestery announced, her voice seeming to rise with each word.

"I gave Cora the bag. Why don't you ask her?"

For a few seconds, the phone went silent. This was then followed up by a scream loud enough to be heard on far reaches of the digitalverse. After that, Aegiochusmon just hung up and shoved the phone into another one of his imaginary pockets. Which, makes this the upteempth time the author forgot what Aegiochusmon even looked like.

"Can my eventual evolved form have some sort of way to carry my stuff?" Aegiochusmon announced as the dream version of Mahora held up, unwilling to let its creator go. "Well this is flipping great."

For now, he would need to wait till the link.

"So, where am I?" the harem mage thought and gazed around the area. He was standing at the southern edge of Mahora's middle school district, bordered by light forest of dead trees and a large green pond. He decided to head towards the pond, sitting himself down on"You're fixated on this, aren't you? This is our white whale, forever sailing the ocean blue out of our reach."

Maybe the harem mage was right. We do always seem to find ourselves within this ruined town, looking back on what wrong. Of which, a lot of things that were out of one's control. But that is how life works some days. Eventually though, one will need to just move on with their lives.

"Move on, huh?" Aegiochusmon whispered and stared off into the distance. Even within this close approximation of his ruined home, there still appeared to be some semblance of hope left to be unearthed. While there was much work to be done, he could ask Polly and Chacha to lend a hand. "Maybe one this is all over, we'll come back and fix this mess once and for all."

Aegiochusmon made a quick glance towards the ground as tears began to fall down from his face. Of all things he wanted at this point, Polly and Chacha were on the top of that list. For as nice as the monologue with himself had been, having either or both girls would have made it feel a whole lot better. He closed his eyes and 'stared' into his mind, searching for the two girls within his memories. But all he could find within were just faded images of them, ready to dissipate to the sands of time forever. If he didn't act now, they would quickly become out of his reach and fall into the corrupting hands of the Gostelow family. Of all the possibilities that could happen, this was the worst outcome to potentially occur. But this wasn't the time to think about that. It's the time to strike the iron and act upon your decision. It could possibly be the harem mage's one and only chance to set this mess right. In many ways, he wasn't the only one marching on to his desired destiny. While the seasons changes and priorities shift, new opportunities appear to oneself. And sometimes, you just have to put yourself to the grindstone to reach the next stage.

"Okay then." Aegiochusmon whispered as he smashed a path through the forest of dead trees as a grinding sound filled the air. If they had been the real thing, he probably would have taken more care and patience. But this wasn't the real mahora, just a very approximate simulation of one created from the harem mage's memories. Even then, that still didn't explain the racket that was quickly approaching him. "Crap."

Aegiochusmon quickly turned around, finding a possible cloaked figure nearing him. He doubted it was either Jestery or Cora, who usually prefered a more direct approach to these sorts of things. No, this had to be someone with a grudge and/or motive to take him on within this realm. In retrospect, it was bound to happen sooner or later. But he hadn't expected it here of all places. He had expected it more in the inner sanctum, where the only people that could be affected would be those mentioned a couple lines ago.

"Let's do it." he thought and turned his attention to his possible opponent.

 **Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!**

Aegiochus aimed the beam of lava towards the ground and shot up into the air. On much closer inspection, the target appeared more translucent than invisible. Not that it really changed much for Aegiochusmon. This was just another unforeseen obstacle in his path, a chance to improve upon himself more when the true battle finally came. And yet when he got up into the air, there was nothing to be fought. Heck, he doubted there had been anyone there at all and made a soft landing. It was kind of a disappointment, especially after that speech.

"Did you have to do that?" Aegiochusmon thought and took a deep breath, his gaze focusing off into the distance. While everything still looked the same, something felt off.

"Boo."

The harem mage then turned around, finding a young man standing before him. He was dressed in a cream white cloak with thin brown trim. A matching hood covered his head, still revealing a pair of bloodshot eyes to go with the handful of peeks of a permanently stained red body underneath his cloak.

"Oh, it's you." Aegiochusmon whispered and cautiously took a step back. "Please leave."

"It's been far too long, Fate." the man greeted and smiled towards the harem mage. All he got out of it was a blank look. "Come on now, It's your bud, Devi! At the very least, you could kindly acknowledge my presence."

Out of the thirteen high-ranking members held within The Order, 'Devi' was considered one of the worst. He was pretty much a glorified murderer, killing just for the heartless sake of it. Rarely was he found at base, instead running some sort of 'errand' for Julie and her pet dark cloud thing. The only other thing this idiot even good for was teaching. As such, he made for the perfect teacher of The Dark Blades. Which, totally didn't bite them in the ass whatsoever.

Aegiochusmon didn't answer and decided to just head back towards his point of origin. Personally, he really didn't want to be anywhere near this crazed lunatic whatsoever. But life had a mysterious way of not giving you what you desired, instead deciding to give you more of what you despised.

"Seriously man? And to think, I was actually going to be helpful for once, maybe even leave mermaid and robo-slut to you. As long as you cooperate..."

As Devi continued to babble on, Aegiochusmon finally reached the far outskirts of his dream world and proceeded to smash his fist into the wall. While it did connect,

"Thank god." he thought and made one final glance towards the ruined buildings of Mahora. "It always leads back to here, doesn't it?"

The author didn't answer and instead decided to watch the harem mage smash his way through. On the other side, he found himself within the black void one expected to see in the dream world as his dreamscape crumbled away. Whatever happened to Devi didn't really matter to him at this point. He just needed to head on and reach his goal.

"Take me to Earth-B." Aegiochusmon whispered and watched as a portal appeared before him. "I'm coming guys, just you wait."

The harem mage took a casual step in, just getting a quick glance of a certain girl dressed in a violet lolita outfit.

"Good luck." the figure whispered and watched as the portal and its occupant faded away. "We're both going to need it."

* * *

Notes:

To be totally honest with you guys, this chapter is a mess. But I'm fine with that. Especially with the chapter taking place primarily in the dream world.

Slight hiatus for Tri Abridged and a bunch of other projects that got put off for a month or two. Considering what usually happens, it probably won't be that long.

Also, I wonder what she is up too?

.

Next Time: Just in time, Cutemon...


	53. Glass Walls pt 1: Frozen Heart

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 53

Glass Walls pt 1: Biased Perception

Cutemon opened his eyes.

Once more, he found himself within in a concrete prison cell. It was quite pleasant, with the only comfort being a cot bolted to the wall with a large wool blanket. Other than that, the only major thing it had was a metal toilet. At the very least, it was better than sleeping outside, where your body could easily be ravaged by both the armed digimon forces or the handful of humans not contained within a survival bunker.

"Still in bunny hell." the rabbit whispered and took a deep breath. "Good. It still hasn't woken up yet."

Cutemon carefully tiptoed over to his target. In many ways, he hated doing this. But at the same time, there was no other way around it.

 **Healing Glow!**

The rabbit touched his cellmate, watching as the patient convulsed in painful agony. The subject appeared to be one of the author's dimensional assistants, more specifically Usagi Renja. Only now, tentacle-like masses hung from her back as her hands appeared to be covered in small thin spikes. Her hair looked synthetic, with the once green locks now looking more brown.

"The scent of that whore still clings tightly to you." he added as gaze shifted back a couple inches. "A magnificent shame if you ask me. Having 'descended' from her, one would have expected such a fine ruler. Instead, "

Usagi didn't answer, the pain still brimming throughout her body. It was what one called 'progress' in Cutemon's book. Even if it he probably could clarify what sort of disease he was 'curing'.

"What do you mean?" Cutemon whispered as Usagi finally stopped convulsing. "I am just doing my job."

With that, sleeping beauty began to move around on the cot, which was then followed by the opening of hollow emerald eyes.

"Another wonderful fucking day in paradise." the former dimensional servant whispered as her gaze focused towards the brownish roof of this box. "Oh, you're here."

Usagi then sat herself up and stared towards the wall, muttering something incomprehensible under her breath. And while the author didn't quite understand it, he suspected he already knew. For as much as things change, the more they stay the same.

"So it was you who was healing my wounds." Usagi added and revealed a wide grin of razor-sharp teeth. "While I would thank you, the fact that you're my next meal seems much more interesting."

Cutemon cautiously took a step back and sighed. He always hated this part of the day. He would run and Usagi would give chase as a form of 'healthy exercise' according to the Gostelows.

"Healthy excercise my ass." the rabbit thought and dashed out of the cell, making sure he closed the door behind him. Outside, he was greeted by a set of white walls and floor. While these appeared to be solid, it was actually just thick white gas sandwiched between a glass floor and some unknown substance capable of holding that sort of thing in. Not that he really had a full grasp on how this worked, having spent his entire education being taught how to care for his patients and how to scream.

"Ahem."

Cutemon turned around, finding the towering figure of a man now standing in front of him. The person in question was dressed quite lightly, wearing just a pair of pants and a white lab coat. His only feet protection appeared to be a pair of white sneakers with matching socks, truly going well with his short blonde hair and blue eyes. He didn't even take the time to even introduce himself and instead using that time to open the unlocked cell door and grab our protagonist by the ears, flinging him against a far-off wall. This still unnamed man then slammed the door shut behind him, still denying the readers the privilege of knowing the simple phrase that was supposedly unique to him.

"Jerk." Cutemon whispered and carefully peeled his body off the wall. Strangely, all the impact did was make a loud thud and vibrate the glass a little bit. "Did your mother treat your associates that way?!"

In retrospect, accepting their offer of this job was kind of stupid in the first place. All it had done was make a potential scapegoat when the time came. After all, the road of hell is said to be paved with good intentions, each one a scapegoat at one point or another.

Almost on cue, the screams began within this wretched place. There was something nonhuman about the sound, possibly tied to whatever the man was doing to Usagi. Even in her depowered state, all she had really lost was her powers and some of her strength. In hindsight, that prob-

Before the author could even finish his sentence, the man exited the cell with wide grin. It was sort of expression that could never bode well now. Whatever this person had done,

"I should really thank you, author. If it weren't for that little decision all those cycles ago, The Order wouldn't be in such an advantageous position..."

As this still unnamed man babbled, Cutemon looked towards the camera with a look of complete WTF. It was the sort of vague look that could be easily misinterpreted for a variety of different facial expressions, yet easily findable within this multiverse. At best, it was a face of both confusion, anger and sadness all rolled up into one slightly cohesive package.

"Truly a shame." he whispered and turned his attention back towards the cell. "First she gets 'cursed' with the scent of that whore and now this to top it all off. I guess I'll have to help this time around."

Cutemon took a deep breath and stepped towards the enclosure. While the odds of him were vastly not in his favor, that didn't matter right now. At most, he had only a couple of minutes to come up with some sort of loose plan to follow to make up for his lack of strength. While there probably existed numerous ways one could go in this situation, one plan in particular came to mind. While not the greatest or the most foolproof one out of the whole bunch, it would work nicely.

"Only one chance to pull this off." he thought and ducked, watching as the solid metal door from his cell was quickly approaching. He sidestepped to the left, watching as the hunk of metal connected with a nearby wall, causing cracks to form all around upon the wall as his gaze focused on the thrower.

Words can not possibly even truly describe what Usagi now looked like. At best, it looked quite similar to those digital eldritch monstrosities that one could 'possibly' encounter within the deeper reaches of the dark ocean. Not that you could, since they have the curiosity of Izuru Kamukura.

 **Healing Glow!**

Cutemon ran towards the opponent and gave them a slight tap. Afterwards, he dashed a couple feet down the hall. While only a miniscule damage was been done, it had managed to get the attention of Usagi. Heck, it was just like before. Only it was more dangerous and unpredictable now. But that just came with the job.

 **D** _oruP_ t **e** d sp **aY**?

Usagi opened her mouth and some sort of black liquid shot out, forcing the rabbit to jump into the air to avoid it. Strangely, the room now smelled like black licorice.

"Crap." Cutemon thought as he made a quick glance to the ground, noticing the sudden lack of a portion of the floor. So he just jumped onto the wall as white smoke began filling this area of the bunker. "If I give up now, this will all be for nothing."

He took another deep breath and sighed. Which each step, the rabbit was inviting in the risk of being gassed and possibly dying all alone in this bunker. But at the same time though, so too were his chances of his plan succeeding. The thought of that filled him with determination, with just so happen to coincide with a bright beam of light engulfing him.

 **Cutemon infusion digivolve too… Olrumon!**

In the place of the pink rabbit, now stood a slightly taller whitish gray rabbit creature. It was dressed quite elegantly, having decided upon just a vest and a pair of shorts. A microphone along with a medicine bag hung by its right side, which went with the headphones hanging around its neck.

 _Scanning…_

 **Olrumon**

 **Champion, Data**

 **Special Moves: Cleansing Melody, Boulder Song**

 **.**

 **Olrumon: So I'm a singer now. Okay...**

 **Usagi: WtF?! yAu,RO 3Re+ **_**cuter**_ **n0-?**

 **Olrumon: Great. She's even more broken now.**

 _Scan Complete._

 **Boulder Song!**

Chunks of rock now floated in the air around Olrumon, who gave the projectiles a wave as he hummed some sort of tune into the microphone. He watched as they slammed into his opponent, slowing them down a tiny bit. While not a massive improvement with the gas in the air, it was enough to get him a bit further.

"Almost there." he thought as the two finally reached a bend within the hallway.

 **Cleansing Melody!**

Unlike Boulder Song, small green music notes floated around Olrumon and seemed to be playing some unknown song. While the music couldn't be identified, it felt quite soothing and refreshing. It was the sort of boost one needed when they were in the home stretch and ready to give up.

 _d **3** str **A** ja!_

Black energy began to swirl around Usagi's fist, with the space around it beginning to 'curve', risking the possibility of another rift between dimensions. Olrumon stopped and shook his head, making a quick glance towards where they had come from. While the gas was catching up, he still had some time.

"Once more, you doom yourself to your fate." the rabbit mocked and turned the corner, finding a large circular metal door with one of those valve handles. "Did you ever learn from your predecessors, Hera and Death? Oh wait! If you had, I doubt we wouldn't be in this situation."

Usagi didn't answer, instead deciding to just watch Olrumon close the large door behind her as a small rift between dimensions formed …

.

Unlike the hallway Olrumon had just came from, the room he currently found himself in actually seemed to make some sense. In this case, brown stone walls with a comfy dirt-like floor. There, a familiar robot girl sat on the ground playing a game of poker against herself. Somehow she was losing.

"Chacha." the rabbit idol whispered and walked over to her. "It's me, Cutemon. Sorta. I digivolved and becames"

Chacha looked up from her game and examined the rabbit, cracking an awkward smile afterwards.

"It's good to see you." Chacha whispered and pushed all of her cards into one neat pile. "After you and Polly went missing about a year ago, things have been kinda boring."

* * *

Notes:

Interesting, very interesting.

Yes, everyone in the Digitalverse is now a year older. Not that it really changes anything for now.

Last chapter before I head into transitions. Once my schedule is a bit more concrete, I'll probably start work on the next chapter.

.

Next Time!: The gift, the rabbit and the massacre...


	54. Glass Walls pt 2: Out of Control

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 54

Glass Walls pt 2: Out of Control

Olrumon did a double take.

For as possible as this revelation could be, it still didn't quite make sense to him.

"So how did you figure this out?" he inquired, only for Chacha to just roll her eyes and laugh.

"I am a robot. What did you expect?" Chacha answered and returned her attention to the left wall of the room.

"Uh…" Olrumon responded as he debated in his head on how to respond to this. "True I guess?"

As the rabbit said that, Chacha mumbled something under her breath. For as nice Olrumon's optimism was, it felt quite disconnected from this whole mess. Not that it would be the first instance of it.

"Since we have quite a distance to travel, I would like to tell you a story." Chacha explained as she headed towards the left wall, proceeding to slam her arm blade into the dirt. She then pulled it back out, revealing a second glass hallway. "That way, you can get to know me better."

"Sure." Olrumon answered and walked over to the android. Once the two were in close proximity, they headed off.

.

Our story begins with a box in a monotone world.

For some time, the contents of the box had stood silent, waiting for some sort of purpose to its currently pointless existence. Had it known the series of events that would soon occur, maybe it would have attempted to rewrite its own history. Not that it really could, especially with the 'past' in a state of quasi-existence that's really hard to explain. Imagine a series of chapter drafts, all of which complete and edited. Now never post them, instead occasionally just doing small edits so it doesn't get deleted by ffnet's weird time limit for drafts. And then accidentally lose part of it, forcing you to replace with what you hope will make sense.

That is pretty much the simplest of explanations to describe her state of memories. While this problem does have a 'solution', solving it brings forth more devastating consequences than solutions. Like accidentally 'destroying' this timeline and having to rebuild it, running right back into the same problem as before.

While the author was continuing his monologue, the box had disappeared and revealed the currently 'comatose' Chacha.

 **Initiating boot-up sequence…**

 **Boot-up complete.**

 **Loading personality routine program...**

 **Loading complete.**

 **Disabling HUD...**

 **Hud disabled.**

 **Awakening...**

Chacha opened her eyes.

"So I'm back here again?" she thought and took her surroundings in. Once more she found herself back at Mahora and dress in the school uniform. More specifically, she stood at the far edge of a cobblestone plaza with her former abode far off behind her in the distance. And while she couldn't quite remember the exact location she had came from, something told her it wasn't exactly here. Once she was done with that, she gave her an arm a slight tap. Instead of the usual metal tap she had expected, there was no sound. "Now what?"

"Meow!"

Chacha looked downwards, finding a black cat staring at her. Strangely, it was cradling a ringing flip phone in its jaw.

"Uh thanks?" the 'human' whispered as she gave the kitty a casual pet. Afterwards, she took the phone out of the feline's jaw and flipped it open. "Hello?"

Silence.

"Is there anyone there?"

Still silence.

"What do you want with me?"

Silence, followed by the beep. Chacha reluctantly closed the phone and shoved it somewhere on her person. As long as she had it, there wasn't much of a preference for the location of it.

"If this is the past, I probably should just head to class anyway." Chacha thought and took a deep breath. The 'human' then casually jogged from the plaza to the building, making sure to keep a low profile and not catch the attention of anyone else. Which was a task much easier than one would expect it to be. Especially when one was currently in a world where anything weird was considered normal.

First grader teaching a bunch of teenagers? Perfectly acceptable!

Said teacher having every girl in his personal harem? Not only accepted, encouraged by his superiors!

Ghosts, robots, vampires and all sorts of weird and unique people that make one question what they won't allow in? Absolutely.

In many ways, Mahora seemed to be a magnet for all things weird. Today was no different. Even as Chacha trudged her way into the entrance of the building, she continued to keep her facade up. Even within the stucco hallway leading to the classroom, she couldn't allow herself to give anything away.

"It'll be alright." Chacha thought and took a deep breath. "Somebody at class will definitely know what's going on."

It didn't take her that long to reach her destination after that. Especially with the door looking ready to give up and fall to the floor. She casually opened it and gazed inside. The classroom was just like she remembered it, with a set of bleachers that nearly went all the way up the wall. Strangely, it's only occupants were fifteen other girls and some silver-haired boy. Of all the girls there, her gaze focused on the one with dark brown hair tied into a long ponytail. And yet, Chacha decided to not sit beside her. Instead, she decided to just sit in the back row near the creepy white-haired girl with a red tear tattoo thing on the left side of her face for some reason. Not that it really mattered to the 'human', currently focusing her gaze on the empty desk with a note on it. She snatched it off the desk, giving it a quick glance. While there was

"What's on the paper?" the girl accused and got ignored by Chacha, who shoved it in the same pocket as her phone.

"None of your business." Chacha responded, only for her 'opponent' to laugh.

"Refusing is not a good idea. For I have a complaint that's need to be addressed."  
If both parties knew what would happen next, would it have changed the outcome of everything that followed? Would the ripple effect cast forth still create the same events from before? That, I do not know. What is known though, was that complaints girl then appeared and began banging her bat into the idiot's head.

"Stop that!" the girl announced as a sudden bolt of lightning struck the attacker, knocking her partially through the wall behind the other two girls. "Good. It seems someone is actually listening to me for once."

Her face then twisted into a grin as she was engulfed within a cocoon of red light. Strangely, Chacha was more focused on complaints girl and the hole she had created.

"So, what's your name?" the 'human' inquired, watching as complaint girl's attire change to match her's. In this case, a red blazer with a matching plaid skirt.

"Usagi." complaints girl whispered and picked herself out of the wreckage, possibly wondering what the fuck had just happened. "Now excuse me for a second. I need to shout at the sky."  
But before she could begin her rant, gray-haired boy noticed what was going on.

"At the very least, can you please just take it outside?" silver haired boy explained. "I'm trying to run a class, not a circus."

"Fine." Chacha answered as the red cocoon around the girl dissipated, revealing a red-skinned humanoid with a pair of curved grey horns sitting on its head. The school uniform was gone now, having been replaced with some sort of skimpy leather outfit. Once Usagi and Chacha were finished gawking at the new creature, the two dashed over to the exit with demon girl following right behind. Silver-haired boy only watched on, content with the proactive action he had taken. Maybe if he known what was coming, would it have changed his decision? He had pretty much unknowingly wasted his one shot at setting things right within Mahora. Now, it was out of his hands and in theirs.

Outside, it was quite a similar story for Chacha and Usagi. And while the latter had her vine hook thing, that still meant the former had to stick to the sidelines mostly. Not that swinging a small chunk of metal towards a demon would really do as much damage one would think it would do.

"Crap." Chacha whispered and took a deep breath. As much as she wanted to just freak out and straight-up attack the thing, that seemed like a good way to die. Especially with her stuck in this mortal body. "Let's flee for now."

Usagi made a quick glance to her, unsure of how to answer her.

"Where?" she asked as continued to do battle with their opponent.

"I know a place." Chacha answered and motioned for her to follow. "I think our opponent can wait."  
The two then headed off once more, making quick work of the brick paths that connected everything within Mahora. Soon, those eventually gave way to a small grove of trees, which both would need to traverse. Not that the two of them really minded though. Soon, a small cabin into view, with both girls picking their pace up.

"Is that it?" Usagi whispered as the distance between them and the building seemed to close. As such, their opponent had decided to join them in this game of tag. Even though there wasn't anything of valuable related to their opponent.

"Yes stupid." Chacha answered as her 'partner' swung her hook into demon girl once more, leaving the opponent in some sort of stunned phase. "You pound on her and I'll grab whatever awaits me inside."

Usagi didn't answer, instead continuing to swing that stupid hook into demon girl. In retrospect, probably shouldn't of had Valia take away her bat. After all, it's far more satisfying to watch a piece of wood collide with a body part than to see a piece of metal to do the same. But I digress.

As she continued attacking, Chacha entered her home. At best, the inside looked like a two room cottage. Walls of grey stone surrounded her, with a matching floor holding it all in. The furniture was bare bones at best, with just a small couch and table in the bigger of the two rooms. The smaller room served as a bedroom, containing just a small child's bed with a nightstand. Strangely, a slightly dust covered leather-bound book had been carefully placed there. In a way, it seemed to call out to her, demanding her attention. Even if she tried to resist, its hold upon her would simply grow. So she gave into that temptation, grabbing the book and pulled it open. Everything after that was a complete blur. It was as if she was just an observer of her own story, unable to change the outcome of her actions. Someone is else seemed to be dictating them, unwilling to relent control back to her. And so she watched, unable to take her gaze away. Even when they unintentionally trapped themselves within a room. The 'human' wasn't sure how it started or who suggested it, but she did know one thing. Sometime during this truly wonderful mess, her classmates managed to either defeat her or turn her off. Whatever it was, doesn't really matter…

.

"And that's pretty much it." Chacha explained and took a deep breath. "So, what do you think? Pretty pathetic, amirite?"  
Olrumon took a deep breath and chuckled.

"It could have been worse." the rabbit added as the two continued down the tunnel, watching it transition from the bare ground they had been walking over to the white gas walls and floor that Olrumon had left behind in the previous chapter. It was here the hallway opened up and revealed a larger circular room. Like the cottage mentioned earlier, it was pretty bare. The only object in there appeared to be a cylindrical glass tube with an aquiosmon in it. Strangely, a woman was sitting by it and had set up a tea set for some reason. Unlike the man though, she was not dressed in the labcoat. No, those clothes had been tossed behind the tube. Instead she was dressed in a dress designed to resemble Alice from Alice in Wonderland, with the only difference being that the outfit was black and red instead blue and white. A bow sat in her long blonde hair, covered in some sort of pink liquid. Along with her, appeared to be the naked body of a teenage boy with spiky red hair. In said hair, was a pair of aviator goggles.

"Would you like some Miss Chacha? How about you, Mr Olrumon?" the woman inquired as she attempted to do her best impression of a little girl.

"I am a robot. Do you really think I would even want tea?" Chacha responded and cautiously approached the girl.

 **Glacial Blade!**

Chacha gave her left wrist a slight flick, watching the sword blade shoot out.

"So that's how it is going to be, huh?" the woman added and snickered, not at all noticing the cracks suddenly forming on the tube. "Polly dear, would you like some tea?"

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

The containment tube then shattered, allowing its occupant to slip out and switch forms.

"Surprise." Polly announced and flung her 'mom' into a nearby wall, watching the woman make a nice dent into it. "Let's go!"

The monk magi then did a quick stretch, confused by their reaction to all of this. It probably wasn't by her spending a whole year in her infusion form.

"You do realize there's a crazed eldritch monstrosity that wants to kill us out there?" Olrumon explained, only to just stand there as Polly headed in the direction the duo had come from. Reluctantly, the duo followed right behind.

.

He stood under the grey sky and took a deep breath.

Once more he had been too late. In a way, he had grown quite tired of it. For once, he would like to feel like he a had a fighting chance within all of this.

"Soon, Fate, soon." he whispered and took another deep breath, cracking a smile as he headed off...

* * *

Notes:

Didn't plan for this too be long as they did. And there's still a chunk of stuff left to cover, Human-wise. And as tempting as it was to cover the rest, the flashback was beginning to lose steam.

On an awesome note, this is now the longest chapter of DAO.

.

Next time: The greatest apocalypse to never happen...


	55. Glass Walls pt 3: Into the bunker

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 55

Glass Walls Pt 3: Into the bunker

Screams.

Once more they haunted Aegiochusmon, serving as a constant reminder of what he allowed to go down that wonderful day. Even as he walked into this town, he could still distinctly hear their agony from all the way back in Mahora.

"Much quieter than I remembered it being." the harem mage thought as he meandered his way down the sidewalk. It was probably the most intact thing around here, compared to the dead grass and the cracked exteriors that made up the once occupied homes of the town. Not that Aegiochusmon really had any clue what this place like before this, having only been here a couple times. Even then, it had been limited too just one building. "A shame I had to visit at the one time when everything is a wreck."

Aegiochusmon took another step, only for a flyer to stick to his foot. He then stopped, carefully pulling it off. It wasn't anything that impressive, being just a piece that described the many amenities granted to those that had sign up for Under-Living. It had everything one expected from a private community, with a swimming pool, rec building and five star dining among other things. The only other real thing of note was the text being displayed in both orange and blue.

The harem mage tossed it back on the ground and turned his attention back to his surroundings. For the amount of destruction that occurred, no traces of actual life seemed to exist here. Silence was all that remained here, with the only source of life coming from him. It was the weirdest sort of thing. In no other world could one quite experience such a phenomenon. But by the same token, most worlds didn't seem as devoid of life as this place.

Aegiochusmon continued to walk, watching the ruined homes give way to more ruined houses, each one its own unique story. If he had the time, maybe he would've taken the time to explore each one and get a feel for the former occupants.

For now though, the harem mage would just have to keep walking. If he didn't, the chance to reunite with Polly and company would slip out of his grasp once more.

"Please be alright." Aegiochusmon thought and sighed, muttering something under his breath. As much as he wanted to trust his partner's 'parents', something told him that would be far from the case. The former SHSL Inventor and Plastic Surgeon seemed a tiny bit on the crazy side, somehow straddling the line between both good and evil. On one hand, you had Adrian, a man whose inventions probably did save countless lives and make said people. But on the other hand, his wife Lauren was a different story. She was known for three major things in particular. One was her skill with the her tools, capable of seamless transplants of flesh from one body to another, possibly to the point of sewing whole bodies together. The second major thing, was the fact that she had switched from Mahora to Hope Peaks and with her information related to magic, the school and its students.

Aegiochusmon took a deep breath. While it was good to remember this sort of thing, he suspected there was much more at hand than just that. But what exactly, wasn't quite clear yet.

Before he could ponder his former colleagues any further, his stomach rumbled.

"Hmmm…" he thought and looked around, eventually focusing on a vending machine. The harem mage quickly made his way over, only for his gaze to focus on an object right in front of it. The object in question appeared to be a juice box, filled with chicken noodle soup for some reason. It was one of a couple that someone had dropped, all of which seeming to lead towards a large cathedral building. Strangely, the only other landmarks of real significance appeared to be a small daiquiri bar and a large grey building with a no longer powered sign up top. Whatever it said didn't quite matter to the harem mage, casually making his way towards the cathedral. The screams seemed to grow as he approached, each step bringing forth more and more pain and sorrow.

"Wonderful." Aegiochusmon thought and took another deep breath. Something told him whatever was behind this door wouldn't be welcoming. No, it would be a reminder of where things went wrong. "This is for you, Polly."

He pushed the doors open and stepped inside, only to do a double take.

It looked like a war zone had exploded within its walls. Dried blood seemed to cover a majority of the surfaces, with the occasional bone fragments thrown in for good measure. Strangely though, there appeared to be no bodies to link to said fragments. Other than that, someone had left a green jacket on the floor.

The harem mage reluctantly picked it up, carefully making sure that it had been unused along with having sufficient pockets to store everything that he had spent the past fifty chapters lugging around in the space between his legs and knee pads.

"Perfect." the harem mage thought and cracked a smile. While as awesome as this unintentional gift turned out to be, the screams reminded him once more it would last that long. "No rest for the wicked."

He carefully fitted the article of clothing onto his large body, making sure to not accidentally tear it. While it was a tight fit, it would serve its purpose quite nicely.

With that finally out of the way, Aegiochusmon returned his attention to the room. It was your standard dark brick sort of deal, with some lighter stone bricks to somehow balance the room out. He turned his attention to the only other exit to the room, a short passageway that might lead somewhere. The harem mage stepped right through, taking note of the faint chemical smell that filled the air. It was possibly someone had attempted to clean the mess up, only to fall victim as well. Or, it the chemicals had been used for something far more devious, such as the preservation of dead bodies.

Once he was out of that hallway, he took another deep breath as the screams grew even louder. They were quickly reaching ear-shattering level, with the possibility of temporary deafness looming overhead. And yet, he could at least make out what they were 'saying' to an extent.

'What did we do to deserve this?!"

'Please don't hurt us…'

Those were some of the more milder ones amid the threats to go full-blown psycho on their captors. Which was less of a threat and more of a possibility waiting to happen. Whether or not it did, remained the question. And yet, he suspected he would get the answer quite soon.

Aegiochusmon sighed and turned his attention to the end of the room. There a crude sign labelled 'Morgue' had been placed over a door, seeming to serve as a marker within this building. There was no going back now. Even if he had wanted too, some force in his head refused to just let him turn around and walk away. Reluctantly, the harem mage grabbed hold of the knob and pushed the door open, only to do a double take.

Unlike the rooms he had just left, this room had a t-shaped design with plain walls and a white tile floor. In here, the screams had stopped, having been replaced with the sight of all these bodies strewn about the room. At least one had been chained to a window, forced to take in as much of the sun rays as humanly possible. Not that person in question was really that much one, having more in common with Lily than say that of a regular person.

Another girl had all of her limbs scattered around the room, with the body parts getting chained to some of the girls. How they expected this to work is beyond me.

All of them had been treated with the utmost of care, having had all their vital organs carefully removed and then carefully stitched back up. But for what exactly, the harem mage wasn't quite sure.

Nonetheless, he decided to wait. Something told him it wouldn't be that long of one.

* * *

Notes:

I'm not sure I would trust something written in blue and orange. But that's just me.

.

Next Time: The other piece...


	56. Glass Walls pt 4: Human

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 56

Glass Walls Pt 4: Human

Polly took a deep breath.

While the voice from before had stayed quiet, occasionally she would catch a whisper of someone.

'Are you ready to face the truth of this mess?'

'Human. What a funny word.'

Usually she just pushed that stuff to the back of her head and continued on, but now it was becoming harder and harder to block it all out. Each step she took seemed to bring it further and further up as a sense of unease seemed ready to come over her. This definitely was not helped by the trapped gas that they had left behind.

"Are you alright?" Chacha inquired as Polly looked over towards her.

"No." Polly answered back, only for her robot companion to place a hand on her back.

"Now, now. It'll be alright, my child." the robot explained in her best patronizing voice. For that, she got a slap from Polly as Olrumon watched on. Thankfully, the hallway they were in quickly give way to a large room with a certain harem mage in it.

"Aegiochusmon!" Polly shouted as her casual jog turned into a run. Voices or not, it had been far too long since she had seen him. Maybe this time, the two wouldn't be forced to part. As much as she sort of hoped for that to be the case, the monk magi doubted that would be the case.

The harem mage turned around, watching the trio enter the room. Polly and Chacha immediately made their way over to Aegiochusmon, quickly take note of their fallen comrades as Olrumon looked them over. Strangely, Chacha seemed focused on the body by the window, almost ready to break down into tears.

"Eva…" Chacha whispered and slammed her fist into the wall, nearly smashing her way through it. "I hope you're happy, author."

The author did not answer. Not that he really could answer this sort of question. While it had been technically his fault for this mess, it had been Chacha's choice to look at the note. She had chosen to act the way she had in that moment. The same could be said about his own choice to 'depower' Usagi. Even if he did have the foresight to predict this, would it have really changed the outcome of this? that,

"Damn." Polly whispered and turned her attention to a far off wall, which had just a simple cork board hanging from it. On said board, a mess of research papers and results had been scattered about upon it. They made their way over to it, only to focus on a single sheet of paper.

 _Experiment Log 10798850-3_

 _November 20th 2011 Cycle 15, Earth-A_

 _Subject 1 ("Akira Okochi") has finally awoken from the operation. The subject has recovered quite quickly, even after having her whole body rebuilt._

 _She now knows herself as "Polly Gostelow", daughter to Lauren and Adrian._

 _So far, the subject has responded well to memory rewrite. Whether or not that will change in the future remains the question. I personally hope so, since it allows me to put my personal touch on this. Especially after the failure that was my own child._

 _-Julie Enoshima, Head of Order Research_

"Wonderful." Aegiochusmon whispered and took a deep breath. "Truly fucking wonderful."

He and Chacha then turned their attention towards Polly.

They had expected to find their human crushed by this sudden realization but instead, she seemed oddly content with it.

'Do you understand now, Polly Gostelow?' the voice whispered, having finally decided to make herself known once more. 'It's all in your hands now.'

The monk magi cracked a smile and turned towards her partner, looking Aegiochusmon right in the eye.

"Yeah, never felt any better." Polly answered and took a deep breath. While yes, this sort of thing was kind a big, reacting in such a extreme way would not help any of them at the moment. For now, they would just have to keep going and put this on the back burner. Once that was out of the way, they could deal with the small stuff. And this was just another small thing on that list. She would just have to keep the flood of emotions back for now. "How about you?"

Aegiochusmon stared back towards her and flashed a grin.

"Same." the harem mage whispered and made a quick glance towards the bodies. "We won't let your sacrifice fail in vain. Right, Akira and Chachamaru?"

"Of course." the two girls answered and glanced towards Olrumon. "Ready for this?"

The rabbit idol only nodded, taking a second to look over the room before returning his attention to the group. In this case, that meant walking towards the 'final room' left unexplored.

Like the previous door Aegiochusmon had gone through, this one also a crudely written sign. Unlike the previous one though, this one was labelled 'Cold Storage'.

Just the name alone was easily enough to put one on edge. And yet, the foursome didn't care. On the other side possibly stood Usagi and the Gostelows, both of which seemed more than ready to take them on. But they were ready for it. If that somehow this wasn't the case, they would pull a rabbit out of their hat and maybe leave the place.

Olrumon cautiously pushed the door open and the foursome headed through, taking this new room in.

Unlike the room they had just left, the entire room appeared frosted over. Rows of shelves filled with glass jars covered the walls, each section related to a different organ. On much closer inspection, a majority of the contents had some form of bite and/or scratch marks on it.

Of course, Usagi in all her grotesque indescribable 'beauty' stood between Polly's 'parents'.

"I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this." Adrian greeted as his gaze focused on Polly. "You were such a good child, even when you did misbehave. But now look at you, hanging with this perverted mage and that sexbot…"

Polly didn't answer, instead deciding to just roll her eyes and turn her attention to her partners. The monk magi gave them a quick nod, blowing them a kiss as she walked over to father.

'What are you doing? Don't tell me you're actually going through with this?'

The voice got not response, quickly realizing the coming outcome of this.

 **Mermaid's Droplet!**

The monk magi grabbed hold of the scientist, throwing him into his wife with enough force to rip her own body apart. In its place though, now stood a similar body. The only difference between was a blue shimmer to her skin. Strangely, the screams and the voice were gone now, but the trio doubted that would be the last encounter with both.

"How dare you treat us that way! We are your parents!" Lauren announced. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

The monk magi only laughed and returned her attention to her digimon, giving them a slight nod.

"Sis Mea Pars!"

Chacha's book then floated off of her, deciding to just levitate in the middle of the air as Polly's pocketwatch did the same. Light then engulfed the three of them, with it quickly completing its work for Polly. Though, she was now dressed in a light blue sleeveless one piece that went slightly past her thighs with a pair of blue shoes and white socks. The only other change was to her, which was a tiny bit longer and now a mix of brown and black.

"I guess it'll work." Polly thought an turned her attention to the

 **Aegiochusmon infusion digivolve too… Fatemon!**

 **Chacha infusion digivolve too… Revamon!**

When the light finally disappeared from the harem mage, stood a similar digimon from before. Among the differences, appeared to be all the red skin now being a grayish pink color and the disappearance of the unicorn horn. His jacket was gone, having been replaced with matching cloak with pockets.

"Okay…" Fatemon whispered and laughed, only to turn his attention to Chacha.

Chacha on the other hand, had forgone her old outfit. Instead, she was adorned in a lacy black Victorian dress with matching high heels. A pair of skeletal robotic wings now came out of her back, seeming to go quite well with the lacy black parasol and matching short gloves. Her skin had a white chalk-like appearance, complementing her slightly faded lime green hair and dull blue eyes. Finishing off her look, was a pair of fangs against purple lips.

 _Scanning…_

 **Fatemon**

 **Mega, Vaccine**

 **Special Moves: Earth Magic, Arcane Wrath**

 **.**

 **Fatemon: I'm unimpressed.**

 **The author: It could be worse.**

 **Fatemon: Do tell.**

 **The author: You could've been a fairy.**

 **Fatemon: Thanks, I guess?**

 _Scanning…_

 **Revamon**

 **Ultimate, Virus**

 **Special Moves: Parasol Blade, Vamptech, Astral Perception**

 **.**

 **Chacha: This feels good! It's been far too long since I've taken this form.**

 **Polly: Uh... Care to explain?**

 **Fatemon: It's a long story. I'll tell you afterwards.**

 **Polly: You better...**

 _Scan Complete._

"This doesn't change anything, honey." Lauren whispered and switched to her labcoat. "Usagi, you know what to do."

Usagi only gave a nod, not even taking the time to glance over to the Gostelows as they teleported away.

"Ready to do this, everyone?" Polly announced and turned her attention to her teammates, watching them give her a nod. While it would be a long battle, they were willing to take that on.

* * *

Notes:

Originally, Session 55 and 56 were one chapter. While the chapter probably would have been fine as one long chapter, I think it works better as two chapters.

Other than that, Aegiochusmon and Polly were really hard to decide upon. Overall, I'm fine with the way they turned out. Chacha on the other hand wasn't that bad.

.

Next Time: Forgiveness to the corrupted one?


	57. Glass Walls pt 4: That Moment

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 57

Glass Walls Pt 5: That moment

For the being known as 'Usagi Renja', there had been better days.

Before this mess, she had been known by one name 'Complaints Girl'. Complaints Girl was to be the successor to Hera, a simple prototype. And at first, things had gone quite well.

 **Parasol Blade!**

Before Usagi could continue reminiscing, Chacha lunged towards her and stabbed her parasol into the eldritch monstrosity. In a way, she probably deserved it.

The former complaints girl took a deep breath and readied her tentacles just in case. All she wanted some time to think. To reflect upon all that had brought her to this point.

This whole mess had begun so simply in the outskirts of dimensional space. There, one could find a little space called Heck. It was a nice tropical place designed to hold all the dead from across the multiverse. Well, before Yami and her angel goons tore it shreds. But that was far in the future. At the moment, Complaints Girl had been doing her usual activity for the day. Sitting around and doing nothing. It was the sort of activity she had gotten quite good at, especially with the rarity of people complaining back then. Even now, rarely do people engage in such an activity.

"I'm so bored!" she announced and began to swing the bat around the room, making sure to not hit anything in the process. "Somebody is bound to complain eventually."

Almost on cue, a complaint finally came in. Complaints Girl took a deep breath and strapped the bat to her back. It was be a simple job. Just go in, hit the complainer and get out. That was how a majority of the previous complaints had gone, leaving with it the expectation that this job would be the same. If she had known what would have gone down that day, maybe she would've done things differently.

She opened a portal up and walked through, finding herself in a classroom. It wasn't anything that impressive, with the only interesting thing being a set of bleachers that were currently being used as the student desks. Her target was currently arguing with another girl, oblivious to the threat that awaited. Or would have possibly, if it weren't for her obvious green cloak among the uniforms. Not that it mattered at the moment. She got her bat ready and swung it into the target.

Somehow, this was not enough to get the attention of the person. So, Complaints Girl whacked the target again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

One would think after attempt #12 she would have stopped or the person in question would have noticed her. Alas, neither outcome was the case, for this continued on for at least two dozen more whacks. All while the protagonist watched on, no less.

It was on whack #36 that something finally happened. In this case, the complainer in question finally responding just as 'Usagi Renja' was born. Funny how things work out in the end.

At first, she had been confused and out of her element. Here she stood in the middle of somebody's classroom, without any idea what the heck was even going on. These were the sort of moments that could make or break the situation depending on what you did. In Usagi's case, that meant clinging to the protagonist. It was all it took for the dominoes to fall. What followed, were the events you've already been told. The two then leave the classroom and head to the cabin, all while being chased by a crazed demon. The protagonist then grabs the book, with both of them getting a single use out of it as they made their way to the library. It was here they chose their fate. Not one of hope and happy endings, but one of death and destruction.

When this was all said and done, only two other survivors remained. The first, a ghost teenage schoolgirl. The other, a sentient computer virus that also had formerly taken a similar form as the ghost. The one other remaining student and their teacher had been whisked away, leaving Usagi as the last one.

"Wonderful." she thought and took a deep breath. "It'll be alright. Someone will eventually notice I'm gone and come to rescue me…"

The former complaints girl turned her attention to the large doors. This was all that was stopping her from leaving this place. If she could just force the doors open, maybe Usagi could leave and maybe resume her duties. But as time went on, this dream stayed as just that. A dream. Over time, she managed to manifest herself in a solid state outside of this prison, the 'ghost' could only appear for so long and in just one place. She quickly forgot about it, deciding to continue to bide her time. Had she kept tabs on the thing, she would have seen her creation appear two or three more times. While each attempt resulted in failure, they served as a reminder to the author of her existence.

And that was when the next chain of dominoes began to fall. Sadness gave way to anger. Anger gave way to hate. And hate gave way to despair. Within that cycle of despair, something interesting happened. Somehow, the doors managed to get open during one of Usagi's bouts of cannibalism. The openers, a man and woman respectively. They claimed to be scientists and would need the bodies, giving Usagi freedom in exchange.

It was the sort of deal that only a devil could make. But to Usagi, it was as if angels had came down and pulled her from this pit. In a single second,the former complaints had given up her own soul and loyalty to her creator for what exactly? While yes, my only plan for Usagi was to just leave her there in that room. And maybe once she had understood what she had done, I would let her free. But alas, that was to not be the case. For Usagi made her choice and there was no going back.

In the events that followed, many rose up. Whether that be by chance or fate. Of consequence or punishment, it didn't matter. All would be needed for the coming battle. And this, was just another barrier to the endgame.

This brings us to Mahora, a couple of hours before Delta's arrival. The 'hunt' was just about to reach its climax, with Delta finally taking the stage and get ready to solve this mess.

It is here the stage was set. Ironically enough, with another Usagi and protagonist character. Funny how fates works out. But that's beyond to the point. Somehow, they had managed to get into this forbidden zone and had managed to make their way over to a small shed. It was here their lives were tragically cut short, a show of force against their very creator. Rarely is this good idea, especially with Chaosanamon. Those who bite god's hand rarely live to tell to the tale.

What followed were even more events you've already seen. Delta arrived in Mahora, finding they were unable to use infusion forms. It was here Aegiochusmon attempted to bypass this restriction, resulting in Sireniosmon. What remained of the group quickly made their way to a small cabin and patched up their wounds. Once that was done, they reached the shed and managed to reboot Chacha along with revert Polly back. A fight against her parents follows, with everything culminating in a library. Right where this whole mess began. In there, the last two girls attempted to finished what they had started, getting quite close. But not close enough.

Which, finally brings us to this wonderful place. Even as the possibly toxic gas was slowly making its way up towards them, our trio of heroes sat peacefully and listened.

" _A_ r n;t y0u _giing_ to ft m?" Usagi shouted and glanced towards her opponents, who were now getting up. "Why don't we finish what we started, little Akira?"

Polly's gaze focused in on the abomination, more than ready to do battle. The monk magi then charged forth, her three companions following right behind.

Chacha then grabbed hold of both Polly and Fatemon, launching the duo up into the air.

 **Vamptech!**

Once she was done with that, her tome opened up and floated beside her. What followed, were faint trails of yellow and green energy getting absorbed into the book.

 **Boulder Song!**

While Usagi was having her life force slowly sucked away, Olrumon was calling forth boulders to hit the target.

 **Pylóna tou Ádi** **(Pillar of Hades)!**

Fatemon took a deep breath, carefully making a pillar appear as his partner quickly approached.

 **Astral Perception!**

A large beam shot down, tearing a massive hole both above and below Usagi. Somehow, the abomination was still able to stand in that one spot. Even though there was no floor to actually stand on and one could just make out a pair of cloaked figures amid the gas.

"We've been spotted." the first figure whispered and turned towards the second.

"One can't hide forever, Hera." the second figure answered and turned its attention up towards the sky. "He knows now. We'll just have to deal with the aftermath when that time comes."

The two then got ready to teleport, but not before Olrumon was able to get a quick glance at them.

"Great." the rabbit idol thought and returned to flinging boulders at Usagi. As much as he wanted to speak up about this, he suspected that now probably wasn't the best time.

 **Apókryfes Orgí** **(Arcane Wrath)!**

"Okay…" Polly whispered and watched as a sphere of lava formed in the harem mage's hands. Nonetheless, she took a deep breath and turned her attention to the projectile.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Very carefully, the monk magi switched forms and slammed her fist into the sphere, watching it turn into obsidian.

 **Parasol Blade!**

It was finally Chacha's turn, giving her the chance to put her parasol to good use. In that case, that meant giving the obsidian ball a good whack. Which, was somehow enough force to make a loud 'crack' sound from Usagi.

"L _e_ t **us** f _in_ iah th1S." Usagi snarled and flung her hook onto Polly, pulling the monk magi over. Polly only gave her opponent a quick glance, proceeding to slam her fist into what little remained of Usagi's skull.

With this one blow, the opponent finally fell. And in a way, forgiveness had finally came for the former complaints girl. Just not in the form she had been expecting.

"I'm sorry, Usagi." Polly whispered and took a deep breath, only to look down at her hands. A layer of multi-colored blood covered both, serving as a temporary reminder of what had just gone down. She watched the blood quickly disappeared and took a deep breath, choosing to watch both Aegiochusmon.

"Polly, are you alright?" the harem mage shouted and got no response. So he ran over, wrapping his arms around her in a massive hug. "It'll be alright."

Polly only stared to his head, unsure of how answer the question. But as their gazes met, a loose understanding was reached. Of what exactly, even I don't know. But whatever it was, it seemed enough to break the monk magi from her funk. Strangely, neither was willing to reveal their hands.

"Ready to go?" Chacha remarked and the two got up, giving her a nod. Very carefully, the trio made their way up and eventually found themselves in a Daiquiri bar. There a portal stood, awaiting their use. But by whose hand is unknown. Not that any of them really cared at this point. All they wanted for the moment was a way back.

And this, was good enough for now.

* * *

Notes:

With that, we reach the end of this arc and inched a bit closer to the endgame point for DAO. At best, probably three or four chapters at least.

And I wonder what sort of 'agreement' those two lovebirds came too. What could it possibly be...

Other than that, I probably could've gotten this out a bit earlier, but Skyrim is really good.

.

Next time: So many alternate possibilities...


	58. Alternate World Welcome

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 58

Alternate World Welcome

Alice took a deep breath.

"Are you alright?" the gambler whispered as she looked towards Elena. While neither were quite sure exactly how they had been flying, it had seemed like an eternity. Elena, Adarnamon and Lily had done the huge part of the work, with Yokoozamon, Consligmon and herself stuck with navigation and the possibility of having to protect the other three. While the trip hadn't been so bad, everyone was either tired, stressed or both.

"Yeah…" Elena whispered back and switched forms, taking a cautious step forward. And by 'step', I mean tripping and getting caught by her lover. "Thanks."

Both girls then took a deep breath as their partners watched on.

"They look so nice together." Yokozamon whispered and took a deep breath, quickly turning his attention to Lily. "Are you alright as well?"

The succubus took a deep breath and stared towards the yak.

"I'm not really sure, to be honest with you." Lily whispered as she did a quick onceover of herself. While the flight had taken most of her energy, she still was assuming her full body state. Even if it probably was better to just switch back. "Thank you, captain obvious!"

The author did not answer back, with the group finally bringing their attention to the surrounding area.

Unlike the area they had just came from, the only structure here seemed to be a carefully planned series of matching rooms. Or would have, if not for the fact that it looked like a mix of both the leaning tower of pisa and the mythical tower of babel. It would seem at any moment the whole thing would fall over and kill its possible occupants. Only it didn't somehow.

"Sounds good I guess?" Adarnamon whispered as they made their way towards the entrance of the deathtrap. "So, what's our plan?"

Alice took a deep breath and turned her attention to the large bird.

"We need to get some rest along with some food." the lucky gambler answered as she gave the door a knock. The door open for them automatically, silently beckoning them in. Yet they stood there, taking the time to catch their breath and then headed through.

The inside was quite unremarkable, with just four bare walls and a floor. Any traces of actual identity for this box had been stripped away and had probably been replaced with sheer nothingness. What was of note though, appeared to be an elevator awaiting their use.

"This is definitely a trap." Consligmon whispered as a chill ran down his spine. "Are we sure we should head in? Something about this place doesn't bode well with me."

Alice took a deep breath, only to sigh. While the spy turkey probably was right, they didn't have much of a choice at the moment. They would just have to face whatever awaited them up there.

"Do you think you can walk a little bit further?" the lucky gambler whispered and stared towards Elena.

"Yeah…" Elena answered as she carefully tiptoed towards her lover. Or would have, if she hadn't stumbled and was caught by Alice again.

"Ugh." Alice whispered and took another deep breath. "I'll take that as a no, then?"

Elena nodded and got up from her lover's arms, making her way towards the elevator. Alice and followed right behind, ready to see whatever awaited them up there.

Once they were all inside, the elevator shot up towards the sky. Strangely, its occupants could see out of the entire thing. Not that the scenery was anything to write home about, just being a bunch of rooms floating in mid-air. Occasionally, this would give way to a unique setting of some sort. Only to last for a single floor and resurface sometime later. Eventually, the 'glass box' finally stopped and regurgitated its contents onto the latest floor of this monstrosity. Of course, that meant spending the next couple minutes getting untangled from

"Ugh…" Adarnamon whispered as she debated upon which personality it would be this time around. While she could chatty and helpful and stuff, being silent but still useful just sounded fun at the moment.

"Sounds good I guess?" Elena answered and gazed around the area.

Unlike the 'lobby' and the elevator they had just left, someone had actually taken the time to decorate the place. In this case, that meant giving the normally white walls a coat of cream paint with felt panelling on the lower half. White tile made up the floor, allowing for quick clean-up of anything that could possibly within here. The only other thing of interest was a plain wooden door at the other end of the hall.

"I guess that's our destination." Lily whispered and took a deep breath. "Be ready, everyone."  
The group carefully made their way towards the door, drawing their weapons as they got close.

"Elena and Alice, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-"

Before the person in question could finish their truly wonderful song, they received a spiritflare blast to the face. Which, probably felt more like a massage to the back.

"Thanks Suiko." Alice whispered as Suiko perked up 'offscreen'.

'Your welcome!' Suiko answered and poked her head out for a brief second, only to phase back into Alice's body. Once she was done with that, everyone finally turned their attention to Jestery.

"How rude!" Jestery announced and pulled what looked to be a loaf of bread with unwrapped candies and dried fruits sticking out. "Want a piece?"

Elena and company stared at the desert, unsure of what it even was. While it did look possibly edible, something about it seem to suggest otherwise. And yet, they all took a bite out of it.

At first, everything seemed alright. While the confection didn't taste that bad, there was the weird chemical aftertaste.

"Alice…" Elena whispered as the room began to spin around and her vision went black. The rest followed suit, leaving Jestery as the sole person in the hallway.

The jester then took a deep breath and looked down at the group on the floor.

"I'm sorry guys, but this for the best." she whispered and dragged each of the bodies into the adjacent room.

.

Makoto Naegi opened his eyes.

For the so called 'luckster', it was just another wonderful day within the wonderful classroom he currently sat in.

"What is it going to be this time, author?" Makoto announced and took a deep breath, waiting for the author to somehow respond back. Per usual, he got no response. "Fine then."

The luckster did a quick once-over of himself, making sure that everything was still there and that everything that was a defining detail of him was still there. Or in this case, a green hoodie and a pair of pants that sort of went with a pair of olive eyes and spiky auburn hair with a single strand defying gravity because it could.

But that was beyond the point, for our current 'protagonist' had decided to head over to the door of his 'enclosure'.

He then gave the slab of oak a slight tap to the top and proceeded to slowly open it, making sure there was an actual floor on the other side. Since there was one this time, Makoto flung the door open and made his way down the hall. That still meant checking for possible death traps. After all, one could never know when such a blow could possibly happen.

"Why thank you captain obvious." the luckster whispered and took a deep breath. He had long lost track of how many times his gaze had fallen upon these walls, with white upper half with a lower part of felt. Even the white tile floor from the hallway had been carried through into this hallway as well. Thankfully though, the dull walls were broken up by a couple of doors on both sides.

Strangely, Makoto then stopped and waited. For what exactly, no one knows. He then turned his attention to the door on his left and pushed it open, only to do a double take.

The room in question was a bedroom. More specifically, his bedroom. It was quite plain, with just a large white bed and nightstand surrounded by four yellowish cream colored walls. Other than that, a small light hung from the ceiling.

But that sort of stuff wasn't that shocking. No, it was the pair of sleeping bodies that laid in his bed that shocked Makoto the most for some reason.

"Jestery calls it, 'The Lovers'." a voice explained and Makoto turned around, finding Jestery standing before him.

"What do you want?" Makoto snarled only for the jester to stare blankly at him.

"Nothing right now actually." Jestery answered and made her way towards the door. "Just take care of your guests and things will work out for both Makoto and Jestery!"

Makoto just stood there, his left hand near his pocket. While it was a nice change from the respawn and eventually die routine he seemed to always be trapped in. This was just one small thorn in the road he and his friends had made their way through so far.

"Fine then." the luckster whispered, watching as Jestery teleported away. The luckster then turned his attention to the pair of sleeping bodies, making his way over to the bed as he took a deep breath. For now, it was probably best to just let them sleep.

After all, what could be the worst that could happen to them?

* * *

Notes:

And so it begins.

Remember how I said it would only be 2 - 3 chapters till the endgame? it's probably going be around 4 - 5 at least now. It'll be worth it, trust me.

.

Next Time: Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality...


	59. Loop

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 59

Loop

Suiko Tanaka opened her eyes.

Currently, the schoolgirl found herself within one of the many generic classrooms held within this wonderful place. It wasn't anything that impressive, with beige walls and a just as unimpressive carpet.

"Okay…" Suiko thought, taking a deep breath in the process. Currently, she found herself sitting in a chair with a table in front of it. Her gaze was focused on a whiteboard, where someone had drawn an outline of a purple butterfly along with a question.

Do you have the strength to break free from this cage? Or will you let it define you?

"Okay..." the schoolgirl thought, making a quick mental note of it.

Afterwards, she took a deep breath and made her way towards the front. There, the only obstacle between her and freedom was a solid oak door. She gave the object a slight push, watching it swing open into a just as generic hallway.

Outside, the hallway seemed just as unimportant as classroom. It had quite a similar design to the classroom, with the only differences being the inclusion of windows that you couldn't even see anything out of and the hall branching off to the right and left. Which left Suiko with a choice. She could go left and see where that took her, or go right and see what awaited her there. Even if she didn't quite know exactly what the thing in question was.

"Come on, Suiko!"

"Don't you want to join us?"

"It'll be fun!"

"Hey wait!" Suiko shouted, only to just stand there and look between both directions she could go. Judging from the voices, they seemed to come from both directions. The only real difference being the right hallway voices being slightly clearer than those on the left. Which somehow made the initial decision a whole lot harder to make. "Okay, that was weird."

She took a deep breath and made a quick glance towards both directions.

While both choices seemed to lead to the same outcome, the voices seemed to be coming more from the right hall than the left. So she did what most totally sane people would do. She followed the voices, allowing the few remaining traces of it to be her guides. Something about them seemed familiar, yet she couldn't put her finger on what. For most people, this would be a big deal. For Suiko though, it wasn't that bad. She tried to not focus on it, instead choosing to go with the flow and roll with the punches. Not having a physical body probably helped with that. The end of the hall quickly approached, pushing the schoolgirl out of her contemplative state.

Suiko took a deep breath and continued on. And by that, I mean she unintentionally walked right through the now illusionary wall and into an adjacent room.

Unlike the previous two rooms she had just left, darkness seemed to engulf the area and left little of the scenery to gaze upon. Of what she could gaze upon though, was a plain round table and a couple of chairs.

"I've been expecting you." a voice whispered as a spotlight was shined on Suiko. "Took you long enough."

Suiko didn't answer, choosing instead to look around the room once more. Even with the spotlight, it wasn't much of a difference. While the walls and floor could now be properly seen, they were unremarkably boring that they didn't even get a description from the author.

"I'm talking to you!" the voice finally announced, forcing its audience's gaze towards 'it'. "Take a seat, why don't you?"  
Two lines of lights suddenly switched on, forming a path for Suiko to follow. Which, was somehow still not enough to illuminate whoever was speaking to her. That or they just had stage fright. Possibly it could be a mix of both. You never could know around here. Suiko reluctantly sat herself down and stared towards the back wall.

"Who are you?" the schoolgirl called out, watching as a similar copy to her form opposite of her. Even if the only real difference was a massive pair of pinkish blonde twin tails and a slutty-looking uniform.

"I'm you." Suiko #2 answered and pulled her head forward. "A you that followed a different path."

The first Suiko only stared back, confused by what the second Suiko was even talking about.

"And what would that be?" Suiko inquired only for her counterpart to laugh.

"Unlike you and 'Alice', I hail from the despairing realms. I chose to give into the troubles of life and embrace despair." Despair Suiko announced and pulled a knife out. "Outcome-wise, not great but not terrible either."

The other schoolgirl continued to stare back, unsure how to react to this.

"So if you're an alternate version of me, how am I able to even talk you?" Suiko answered back. While she wasn't quite sure where that little nugget of knowledge came from, something about it seemed familiar. But try as she might, she kept running into blanks. If it had been the lapses in memory, Suiko would've been content with it. But no, these were the sort of huge canyons that seem impossible to cross. And yet, she had been content with that fact.

Of course, Despair Suiko was laughing at that fact and hit the table. Somehow, this was a strong enough punch to break off a piece of the table. Strangely, the despair schoolgirl took a big bite out of it and followed it up with a large grin.

"It's chocolate, silly! Want some?" Despair Suiko asked and held a piece out, revealing a set of fake nails that were covered in far too much nail polish. Especially with the stuff dripping onto the table itself, making an already questionable choice even more dangerous for the schoolgirl.

"That would probably be a good thing to know right now!" Suiko shouted and made a quick glance towards the way she had came from. While it would seem she could just head back the same way she had came through, something told her it wouldn't be that easy. But where exactly this information was even coming from she didn't know.

Nonetheless, the schoolgirl broke off a piece of the table and very carefully placed it in her mouth. While this piece in particular didn't have as much nail polish as the others, it just didn't feel right. Yet, she managed to finish the piece off as everything began to twist about. The size of everything in the room seemed to move all about, quickly moving in and out of focus. Faint images flashed past her, of times long gone and memories pushed away. All of this culminated in her endlessly falling through the 'void'

'Remember, Suiko…'

"Remember what?" the schoolgirl whispered as she fought to keep her eyelids open.

"Remember and you can set down the path to fix this."

With that, her eyelids snapped shut as everything slowly faded to back…

.

Suiko opened her eyes.

Once more, she found herself sitting within a desk in the generic classroom before.

"Ugh…" the schoolgirl thought and sat herself up. She quickly made a mental note of the butterfly diagram and the quote beneath it. Afterwards though, her gaze focused upon a second whiteboard. How she didn't manage to notice it is beyond me. Unlike the other board though, there was no quote or picture. Instead, all she found were rows of tally marks just about ready to flood out of the board and onto the ground. "Okay…"

Very carefully, she added another mark and headed out into the hallway. While it all looked the same as before, something about it felt off. But try as she might, Suiko couldn't figure out what exactly it was. Yet, this somehow didn't stop her from taking the time to choose, instead deciding to walk down the same hallway as before. Once more she gets lost in thought, allowing herself to go through the illusionary wall and meet her despair self again. What followed were the events you have already read. The room, the chocolate table and the falling.

Once more, Suiko opened her eyes.

She gets up from her chair and gives the whiteboard a brief examination. While there was nothing on it, she still memorized it somehow. That was pretty much the only difference within this particular walk. Again and again, Suiko made the same choice and chose to follow the voices.

Kind of a pity when you think about it. All she had to do was to do was just turn left. That was all it would take break free from this seemingly never-ending cycle she had gotten herself trapped in. It would take a miracle to get out of this.

And a miracle she got upon her upteempth loop within this madhouse. While making her way down the hallway to the intersection for another visit with her despair self, something caught her attention.

For some reason, there was another version of her standing in the hallway. Unlike the despair version though, this one was dressed in her old school outfit.

"Hi?" Suiko #1 greeted, unsure of what to make of this. Thankfully, the second Suiko grabbed hold of her and dragged her down the left hallway. A side effect of this was the breaking of the loop. "Thanks?"

With that, everything went white as both Suiko's disappeared...

* * *

Notes:

When I got done with the original chapter earlier today (at the time of writing), I really wasn't happy with the chapter. What followed, was a much chunky version you see here.

And to answer the question, nail polish is to some extent toxic. Considering how much Despair Suiko had, you're more likely choke on it than anything else.

.

Next Time: The flip side of the alternate worlds...


	60. Unity

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 60

Unity

Alice opened her eyes.

Gone was the crowded hall of the leaning tower of Pisa. Replacing it though, was some sort of white reflective material. One would think this would make distinguishing the walls nearly impossible. Well, if the walls hadn't been a shade of grey and jutting out at all sorts of angles and directions. In a way, it was the sort of place one could call 'Hell'. Of course, having Elena laying up on her seemed to balance it out.

Yet, something felt off about it. Maybe it was the room they stood in, with all of it mirrors and various other reflective surfaces. Or perhaps it was the fact they were the only two people in the area.

"Time to wake up, Elena." the gambler whispered, giving the corsair a slight tap.

"Ugh…" Elena whispered and turned her attention to Alice. "Good morning?"

Alice took a deep breath, only to crack a smile. While neither girl had any clue where they were or what was even going on, they were willing to roll with the punches and see where it took them. For now though, they would just have to roll with the punches.

"Suiko, are you there as well?" Alice whispered, only to get silence on the other end. "Suiko?"

"Your friend should be here in a moment." a voice explained, forcing both of them to gaze all around the area in order to find the source of the voice. It probably didn't help at all that one could see countless reflections of Elena and Alice throughout the area. Especially with a couple of the reflections seemingly moving on their own.

 **Gale Strike!**

A wave-shaped projectile quickly approached, forcing both of its intended targets to pull their weapons out. Both Alice and Elena gave each other a nod as two split up. The plan was simple. Alice would provide cover fire while Elena approached the reflections.

 **Full Auto Fire!**

Before the corsair even get close to their possible opponents though, she found herself forced to take on a hailstorm of gunfire. Even though the amount of bullets fired didn't match up with the size of the gun's magazine at all.

"Does that really matter when every fucking bullet missed?" the voice announced, suddenly deciding to stop firing her guns and stare up towards the sky. "Do you really think we actually care at all about that?"

The author did not answer, instead choosing to just observe. Why they actually thought this would change, is beyond me.

"Thank you?" a second voice added as their reflection approached the first.

 **Memory Blast!**

A beam of energy shot out and spectacularly missed both of its targets. In response to that, Elena and Alice switched to their digimon forms.

"This feels weird." Alice whispered as her transformation sequence finished. It had been quite some time since she had last used NekoGamblermon, leaving the lucky gambler slightly out of her element. Especially with the change from a pair of pistol to just the one.

 **Lucky Shot!**

 **Memory Spirits!**

Elena then suddenly stopped, shooting out a couple of transparent figures towards their opponent. As that happened, Alice fired off her pistol and watched the projectile slam into the figure, creating a chain reaction of explosions in the process.

'Ahhhh!'

"Suiko?" Alice whispered, only to hear a loud thud from within her body.

'Yeah, I'm here.' Suiko answered and took a deep breath. "Sorry about that."

Alice took a deep breath and meowed by accident. While she was a tiny bit concerned by where Suiko had been, it wasn't anything to really worry about for the time being. The schoolgirl was back now, allowing the use of spiritflare once more.

 **Spiritflare!**

Unsurprisingly, a single bullet shot out and seemed to miss either target. Only to be then followed up by the usual shotgun blast.

 **Ghostflare!**

The attack was pretty much a carbon copy of Spiritflare, with the exception of being louder and more inaccurate. In this case, missing its intended target and managed to hit their ally.

 **Gale Wing!**

A pair of light green wave-shaped projectiles shot out from the second opponent, quickly making their way towards Elena. Midflight though, the projectiles fell to the ground as the corsair switched back to her human form.

"Is it just me, or does something about them seem awfully familiar?" Elena whispered as she took a couple steps closer to the opponent.

"You're right." Alice answered and took a deep breath. "It's as if we're fighting ourselves. Only are opponents are the younger more inexperienced versions of ourselves."

The two girls then turned towards each other, giving each other a look of pure confusion. While not a major earth-shattering revelation, it was the sort of thing that made one stop and wonder what the heck was even going on. Not that they ever really got an adequate explanation or even a reason. At times, this seemed to be how the whole multiverse worked. But by the same token, some things just were better left just that. It was stuff like hope, believing and love. Even within a madhouse like this could one find such things in a pure unchanged form.

With that, Elena and Alice charged towards their respective targets, making sure not be tripped by tricks their past versions somehow knew. This was a lot easier than one would think, since neither girl had really gained any new skills in a while. Not that they really had needed anything else, having had the support of their team and digimon in most encounters.

"Let's change it up then!" Elena suddenly announced and sidestepped over to Alice, grabbing hold of the gambler's left hand. "Ready to do this?"

"Absolutely." Alice whispered back, gripping Elena's hand and reverted back. Their pace quickly increased, with their opponents just seeming to stand in place. It was if they were just accepting their fates, even if their 'deaths' technically meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.

 **Gale Strike!**

 **Spiritflare!**

And yet, all they managed to do was simply defeat their opponents with the same moves as before. Not that there was anything wrong with that, mind you. It just feels so underwhelming after such a long fight.

"Good work, you useless crap." a voice whispered as a small figure appeared before them. Unlike their past selves, this figure was dressed in just a black hooded cloak decorated with purple symbols. A large scythe was held with both hands, ready to tear up anyone who was stupid enough to take them on.

"Uh… hi?" Elena greeted as she and Alice glanced towards this sudden arrival. "I'm Elena, and that's Alice. What's your name?"

"Death." the figure whispered and pulled their scythe back, swinging it towards them.

 **Deathbringer X3!**

At the end of its arc, three scythe heads shot out of the weapon and towards Elena and Alice. For some reason, the projectiles had chains attached to them. Which only seemed to serve the purpose of allowing one to swing their weapon around in a deadly version of jump rope.

 **Gale Strike!**

Elena slammed both of her blades into one of the swinging projectiles, only managing to just knock it back in the opposite direction. While not the desired outcome that the corsair had wanted, she was willing to deal with it.

 **Spiritflare!**

Unlike Elena, Alice found a tiny bit more success with her attack. While the shotgun blast had managed to knock two scythe heads back, they were now heading towards them at a much faster pace than before.

"I have an idea." Elena whispered, quickly making her way towards Alice. "Do you want to hear it?"

"Sure." the gambler answered back as the scythe heads made their way towards them once more. What followed, was a mix of whispering and fending off deadly scythe heads. Once they were done, Alice holstered her left gun and Elena sheathed her left. They then turned their attention to Death as a grin formed on their faces.

 **Unity: Gale Revolver!**

Both girls suddenly found themselves outlined in a mix of green and grey energy, which seemed to blind their opponent. Elena and Alice then charged forth, letting go as they reached the opponent. The corsair then grabbed hold of Death, knocking the cloaked figure up into the air with a large whirlwind created via her kris. Alice then followed her lover's attack up by unloading both of her magazines for her pistols along with a good chunk of Suiko's shotgun shells in the process. Once that was all said and done, the two jumped into the air and finished the combo off with a spining drill kick to the head

'That was awesome!' Suiko shouted. 'But aren't we supposed to wait till EMT get his infusion form before we introduce a new mechanic?"

The author chose to not answer the question, possibly deciding that answering would just make things even more confusing.

"Heh." Death answered and got back up. "Did you really think that attack would even destroy me? That attack barely even damaged me!"

Neither girl responded, instead letting the silence do it for them. It didn't help that both of them were nearly drained from that last attack.

"Thanks for you giving me so much fun, useless crap. But all good things have to end eventually. Isn't that right, master?"

With that, Death swung its scythe, only for nothing to happen. The cloaked figure took a deep breath and swung the weapon a second time. Only to get the same outcome as her previous attempt. She then repeated this action a few more times, only to receive the same result. It was as if the universe was attempting to tell her something and she wasn't listening.

"Go fuck yourself, author." Death announced and teleported away in a puff of smoke, leaving Alice and Elena behind.

"I guess we won?" Elena whispered as everything suddenly began to spin around and getting increasingly darker. Alice was right behind, finding herself under similar symptoms.

.

Elena and Alice opened their eyes.

The reflective enclosure was long gone, having been replaced with a bedroom. Unlike the hallway they had seen before blacking out though, the whole room looked ruined. The walls that surrounded them looked ready to fall down, with the holey carpet and bare spots they were calling a 'floor'.

"You're awake!" a voice announced and both girls perked up, watching their digimon flood in.

"Yeah…" Alice whispered as she and Elena got up, dusting themselves off as their partners looked them over. "Let's get out of here."

"Agreed." Elena added and took a deep breath, only to turn her towards Adarnamon. "So what happened with you guys?"

The digimon all took a deep breath, debating among them whether or not to tell their owners what had happened. Like Alice and Elena, it seemed they too had gotten caught up in mysterious events.

"Some cloaked figure showed up and things got weird." the bird finally explained as Elena took a deep breath.

"What do you mean by weird?" Elena added. "That could mean a whole lot of things, especially within this madhouse."

Adarnamon took a deep breath, only for Lily to suddenly decide to speak up.

"The figure attempted to kill us and was shouting all sorts of stuff." Lily added as she took a deep breath. "It mostly a mix of telling the author to fuck off in the name of the angels and criticizes all the stuff related to the digitalverse."

"By any chance did they give their name?' Alice responded as she turned her attention towards Yokozamon and Consligmon.

"She said her name was Hera, Miss Alice and Suiko." Yokozamon added. "She also claimed to be working somebody known as 'The Timekeeper'."

Elena took a deep breath and made a quick glance towards the floor. When her face finally sprung back up, Alice was now staring right at her.

"What's wrong?" Alice inquired, only to get no response from Elena. "Hey, I can't help you if you're not willing to tell me."

The corsair took a deep breath, allowing her gaze to meet her lover's once more.

"It's about that timekeeper dude." Elena finally whispered. "I kind of defied him."

Kind of is an understatement. Chose to would probably be a better way to describe it. But what do I know?

"Please shut up." Alice shouted and wrapped Elena in a hug. "Thank you."

"No problem." Elena whispered back as the two kissed while their digimon looked on, giving them both an 'awwww'.

Once that was all said and done, the two broke free and exited the room. Their digimon followed right behind, quickly making their way towards the now open door at the far end of the hall. What followed, was a short elevator ride down.

* * *

Notes:

Last chapter for 2016. What better way to celebrate than to kick the asses of your prior versions. More specifically, the Alice and Elena from the end of 2015. Because why not? That doesn't mean this chapter isn't canon. It's complicated.

And yes, I realize the end of this chapter is a mess. While I have gone back and improved it, let know what you think.

What happened with the digimon in The Classroom will be its own chapter, its mostly so I don't have to write five - six little chapters to go with the big chapter. That, and I suspect how much time I'll have to work on this and everything else is going to 'shrink' in the future.

This is also your heads-up for the timeline getting a little bit confusing in an upcoming chapter. While it won't be the next chapter, it's on the horizon. You have been warned!

.

Next Time: Storytime with Aegiochusmon pt 1?


	61. Mahora's Mess pt 1

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 61

Mahora's Mess pt 1

The Dream World.

For many, it had served as a place of relaxation and freedom from worrying about the various messes they had found themselves in. But for Fatemon, it meant something else. For the harem mage, it served as a reminder of all that had gone down that day. Had he known the events that would transpire, maybe he would have been able to stop it.

"Fatemon, are you alright?" a voice whispered and he turned around, finding Polly staring at him.

"Yes." Fatemon whispered, only for Polly to slap him. "Thank you."

"No problem." the monk magi whispered as they took in their surroundings. Currently, the foursome found themselves within the shifting technicolor void that connected this 'insanity' with the rest of the digitalverse. At one end, you could just make out the dead earth that they had just left. Opposite of them though, stood the most wonderful place on earth. Well, a theoretical recreation of a Disneyland with all its various counterparts shoved together for maximum efficiency. Though, that still didn't explain why there was a movie set built within it.

"Because Jestery wanted it there!" a voice announced and Jestery appeared. "Why else would Aegiochusmon think such a thing?"

Fatemon took a deep breath, seeming just about ready to punch the jester for that remark.

"Do I look like Aegiochusmon to you?" he shouted as Jestery reexamined him and Chacha.

"Sorry! Jestery didn't expect you and Chacha to actually digivolve." Jestery answered.

"Thanks I guess?" Polly added and held her hands behind her back. "So, do you mind if we quickly pass through. There is some place we need to urgently get to."

Jestery turned her attention to the monk magi, of which it seemed to be more on her hands than anything else related to her. The jester then snickered and turned her attention to Fatemon.

"So you actually went through with it? Jestery is impressed. Maybe she needs to step up her game…"

Chacha and Olrumon looked towards Polly and Fatemon, curious of what exactly Jestery had been talking about. But before they could get a chance to inquire about it, she teleported away.

"Care to explain?" Olrumon whispered and got no response. "Hey."

"It's a secret to everyone but us." Polly whispered and turned her attention to Fatemon, mumbling something under her breath as she headed off.

"Of course." the harem mage answered and took a deep breath. "I would like tell you a story."

"Ugh…" Chacha whispered, only to sigh. While she already knew what the story in question was, it was good to have a jog of memory every once in while in a while.

Our story begins not in Japan, but in Wales. There, we find the character we'll be following for this 'flashback'. For now, we'll call him Protag. Protag was a ten year old british boy and aspiring mage graduate. His first assignment? Why, teaching a class of 31 middle school girls for an entire year at the girls-only school system of Mahora. How anyone saw this as a 'good idea' is beyond me, but what do I know?

And so our 'hero' and his talking weasel headed off to Japan, quickly getting acquainted with his class. And by acquainted, I mean get treated like shit by a majority of his students and accidentally revealing his magical abilities to . Those that weren't doing that either had a crush on him, oblivious, 'dead' (it makes sense) or just decided that actually showing up to class would be too much time and effort on their part. Along with that, one of his students was a witness to him using magic. Which was somehow a bad thing and punishable by transformation into an animal. Which just seems kind of rude. Especially if the incident in question was the not the fault of the caster. But I digress.

After that disastrous first day, Protag decided to rope the girl from earlier to help him find the slacker students. Or in this case, a 600 year old vampire with the appearance of the nine year old (with the personality of one to boot) and their robot 'servant'. The resulting battle brings us to what is the most loosest system to ever exist. Basically, the training mage is allowed to make as many partners as he wants in the form of 'pactios'. It was the same sort of technique that the monk and harem mage had been using since the start of their journey throughout this madhouse. Somehow, the two were able to not only take on the robot and vampire, but actually managed to defeat the duo. And for a short time everything actually went quite well. The class was less of a dick, Protag made a couple more partners and they even took a trip to Tokyo for school vacation. Which went as well as one expected to.

And then the 'tournament' happened. Calling it one would be understating the absolute clusterfuck that occurred in the span of a couple days. At first, things actually seemed to be looking up. Prota\g had been given a magical pocketwatch known as the 'Cassiopeia Clock'. It gave the user the power to time travel, taking them to a certain point in time whether that be forwards or backwards. So what does Protag use it for? Why, to visit all his students all at once. In retrospect, it was one of many stupid decisions the boy had made so far. Decisions such as planning to give the vampire some of his blood in and the whole 'letting the fanservice slide' debacle. I'm a fanfic writer, so what do I know?

What followed, was a mix of martial arts, magic and straight-up WTF. All of which culminating in an army of middle schoolers attempting to save the world while Protag takes on the boss. Or in this case, his granddaughter from the future. For some reason, she was there too rewrite the past so her future wouldn't That the actual explanation that this girl gives. I kid you fucking not.

Nonetheless, he defeated the time traveler and they said their goodbyes.

Peace quickly returned to Mahora after that. But how long it would last remained a mystery…

.

In the time that Fatemon had told his story, the group had made their through the city and were currently sitting at a small cafe.

"So let me get this straight." Polly whispered. "This whole mess is the result of one guy having to deal with a crappy assignment?"  
"Yes and no." Fatemon answered and took a deep breath. "While his actions did get the ball rolling to the Mahora Incident, Protag played no part in it."

Polly stared towards her partner, giving him a slight reassuring nod. While this huge piece of the puzzle was nice, it still felt incomplete in the grand scheme of things. She still felt like she was an outsider looking in instead of the one telling her part of the story.

"So is that it?" Olrumon added and stirred his tea. "There isn't anything else before the Mahora Incident happens?"

After the rabbit finished what he said, a loud blaring siren pierced through the surrounding area and a cop car rolled up.

"You're all under arrest!" a voice announced, only for a trio of goons to pop out. They probably had names and a cool-sounding title, but they weren't the main focus of this particular series of events. "Put your hands in the hair and please hold still."

What followed, was our heroes finding themselves looking down upon the barrel of three guns. Which in most situations, would be absolutely terrifying. Or would have, if the difference wasn't as huge of gap between the two groups.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly then jumped into the air, slamming her fist down into the far right perp. Which somehow caused a chain reaction of the three thugs shooting each other.

"Let's go." Chacha whispered and motioned for the rest of the team to follow. "Especially before these three nitwits decide to continue this petty gunfight."

Her teammates gave a slight nod choosing to follow the robot.

"As I was saying." Fatemon added and took a deep breath. "Once more, peace had come to Mahora. But, it was only a matter of time for it to be broken…"

Notes:

As much as I would like to have this one be one super long chapter, the stuff covered next chapter is kind of confusing and jumps around a lot. That and the end of the tournament seemed like a good place to stop.

.

Next Time: The second half of Fatemon's story.


	62. Mahora's Mess pt 2

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 62

Mahora's Mess pt 2

When we last left off, Protag had just defeated his time traveling future daughter and won the tournament. His prize?

The information to where his dad was, of course. Because that suddenly matters all of a sudden. So, he got a group of the most talented people in his class. Or in this case, his partners and a bunch of other people who unintentionally went along for the ride.

What followed, was our hero getting his ass kicked and the entire group scattered across the magical world. Of course, he had gotten stuck with the robot and the 'internet star'. And by that, I mean a teenage girl with an obscene amount of outfits and some knowledge of photoshop. In their defense, youtube wouldn't come into existence for a couple of years. What followed, was the usual reaction one would get from leaving a fish out of water. A mix of panic and fear. Of course, the robot was totally fine with all of this. Especially since she now able to go into water without short circuiting along with a large amount of things her creator hadn't added. Considering they were using 'canned magic' to power the robot, they probably should have seen it coming. Not that it really mattered at that point. They were now trapped in a world where everything wanted to kill them. Add in Protag somehow managing to get the blame diverted to him, it was going to be a bad time.

And for some, it was that way. Somehow, one of the girls managed to get themselves quite sick. Which forced her two companions to sell themselves into slavery. Kind of a messed up deal when you think about it.

Protag gets word of this, deciding that he's going enter this fighting tournament to raise the money for it. Which somehow alerts the rest of group to make their way to the city he's in.

Of course, in order to enter this tournament, Protag needed to train. So he found a man will call 'Epic Guy'. Just how epic was this person? This guy's weapon of choice was a twelve story tall sword that could also function as a surfboard. Just in case such a situation of that came up and you somehow your twelve stories tall sword with you. But I digress.

Of course, Protag decided that he would move to 'darkness magic' in order to get the necessary advantage. I guess the power of believing doesn't apply to magic? Oh well.

As that happened, the rest of Protag's group managed to get their bearings and make it to this specific city.

Of course, with the tournament, came festivities. You would think after what happened last time, they would take precautions. Of course not. They decide to just piss the big bad off. Especially after he offers you a way for the unintentional tagalongs to leave.

Thankfully, Epic guy and his sword were there to save the day. Though, it did result in one of his girls getting kidnapped and being replaced by an entirely different girl somehow. Did Protag notice? Of course not and decided to just enter the tournament anyway. Even though he would also would be facing Epic Guy and his sword. And so, Protag fought his way through a second tournament. Only to find himself facing down Epic Guy.

What followed was a battle of epic proportions, with Protag pulling out all the stops and showing off a bunch of moves he somehow didn't have before. Which won him the tournament. But still not enough money to save the three students from slavery somehow. So, Protag had to do some things in order to raise the money. Once that was done, he got the medicine, he and his harem were invited to another party. One would think they would realize these sorts of activities have done nothing but bring destruction and lower morale. Of course not. They take up the invitation anyway, mostly on the promise that the bounties on their head would be removed and they would get information on where the fuck they even were. Or in this case, a parallel version of Mars. This is the general explanation they give for this world. I am not making this up, somehow.

What followed, was Epic Guy deciding he would take on the main bad guy. It went as well as one expected it too. Then Protag is offered by their host to help stop this mess, only for their host to just sic the military on the party anyway. To add insult to injury, the bad guy and his goons showed up and kill Epic Guy. Epic Guy then gives his last words, telling Protag to find the fake girl. Which he does. And it turns out some of the people are just really complex illusions. And that Protag needs to complete super form before he can rescue her.

While this all happens, that girl that got replaced discovered the bad guy's secret plan: Destroy all the illusions then transfer whatever remains to earth.

It didn't take Protag that long to complete his super form. Afterwards, it was time to beat up the big bad. Somehow, this actually went quite smoothly. As long as you don't count another one of Protag's students showing up and revealing themselves to be a demon for some reason. Then she decides to just send the boy into his dream world, where everything is peaceful and right in the world. Only for Protag to break free and rescue the damsel in distress, who turned out to be the princess of mars.

With that, the final battle began. Only to end five seconds later offscreen and everything somehow return to normal with some form of lasting peace. Well except for the 'bad guy' now being a substitute teacher. Everyone went their separate ways, believing their journey was at an end.

All that changed with a single letter. It was an opportunity at something greater, to create a future where peace could be achieved. If the two that took up that offer knew what awaited them, would they still have chosen this fate? Maybe. It is the sort of thing that one could never tell.

What followed, was giving seven children some 'candy'. Or attempting too. Especially with some punk claiming he would take them him down. Then a couple years of 'peace'.

All for it to shatter in a single moment. Another stupid decision to add too the pile. In retrospect, maybe they shouldn't have taken as far as they did. Not that any of them could ever change what happened that day. So they went their separate ways.

For a time, this worked out. Heck, the 'bad guy' had even managed to score himself a teaching job back at Mahora. And then the Mahora Incident happened. The author fucks up, a bunch of people die and two of the survivors managed to 'free themselves' from this rock.

For the big bad, that meant letting go of his old form and holding onto the sliver of hope that he could turn into something more.

For the lucky one, someone else was currently making the decisions for her. Yet, fate had other plans for this one.

Finally, for the robot, sleep was all that awaited her. Maybe, one day, her purpose would be finally fulfilled.

.

Polly took a deep breath.

Even with that helpful storytime, things still didn't make much sense. So many questions still remained within her, seemingly growing with each passing second. Yet, she was content with that. There was little use in attempting to force anymore out of either of her partners. If anything else came up, she suspected they would fill in the details later. Or could be in a sudden realization. She wasn't picky about it.

Thankfully, they had now reached the far edge of the Dream World. Here, they could maybe catch a ride back to Hunter's End. If nothing else, they could hitchhike their way back.

"Is there anything you want me to explain, Polly?" Fatemon inquired, only for the monk magi to shake her head. "Are you sure?"

Polly nodded her head again and took a deep breath. She had already made her decision. There wasn't much use in going back on it.

"So what's the plan now?" she whispered only for the sound of an engine roaring to pierce through the silence. "I guess that answers my question."

A few seconds after saying that, a slightly beaten-up jalopy rolled up and Aaron stepped out.

"Hey guys." the detective greeted, only for Gentleman to land before him.

"Aaron!" Olrumon announced and ran up to his human, who seemed quite happy with what his partner had become.

"Do we have to take them with us?" the jalopy driver shouted and mumbled something under her breath. "Especially that harem bitch. You never can know what sort of diseases and STDs that thing could be carrying."

 **Mermaid's Droplet!**

The jalopy and it's currently sole occupant quickly found themselves up in the air, only to fall back down just as fast.

"Say that again. I dare you." Polly shouted and smashed her fist into the vehicle. "I fucking dare you!"

Fatemon then grabbed hold of her, giving the monk magi a slight glare. She reluctantly nodded back, mumbling something about getting her revenge.

"Let's get going, Gentlemen and Ladies." Gentleman whispered and ushered them into the car.

With that, the group headed off...

* * *

Notes:

She does have a 'good' point. We have no clue what Polly really did during those 'parties'.

Next Time: Officer EMT gets his revenge as the 'endgame' looms upon us...


	63. Nostalgia

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 63

Nostalgia

Officer EMT sighed.

They were just about to reach the outskirts of Hunter's End and a feeling of unease seemed to fill him. But at the same time, there seemed to be some traces of nostalgia within it. Sort of like when a graduate reminisces on their memories of high school and realize that just about everything is not like how it's portrayed in the media.

"Is something wrong?" Joey asked and the troll took a deep breath. He gave the shadow scientist a quick glance, only to return it too the large mass of land ahead.

 **Deathbringer X2!**

A trio of scythe heads made their way towards the vehicle, ready to tear it apart.

"Crap." EMT whispered and took another deep breath. It had been a long time since he had heard that attack. Even longer since he had seen the person in question. "Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful!"'

Joey and Issacmon looked at him with a mix of confusion and concern. And for as much as EMT wanted to explain to the duo his frustrations, there wasn't really a good way to explain it.

"Take the wheel." he ordered and headed towards the back, pulling himself up onto the roof. Once up there, he pulled his rocket launcher out.

It had been far too long since he had gone some form of action. While not the opponent he had been hoping for, it would work. "I know you're here, Death!"

Out in the distance, the figure once known by that name possibly perked up. It was kind of hard to tell from here.

"Just shut the fuck up." Death announced, only to have her request fall on deaf ears. "Want to know what? I was really hoping that this wasn't going to come to this! But no! We're having to do this your fucking way!"

EMT fired his weapon off, watching the projectile head towards his opponent. He then pulled some landmines out and flung them out into space. What followed, was a very dangerous game of landmine jumping. It was the sort of thing that took practice, for a single misstep could result in death by falling or getting blown up by your landmine. Neither of which seemed like viable options at the moment.

"Is that really all you have to offer?" Death taunted as EMT's attack finally reached her. She then slammed her scythe into it, knocking the explosive off-course as the opponent reached her. "You've grown weak, old man. Heck, those two nitwits you ferried here were more powerful than you!"

The troll didn't answer, choosing instead to switch to his kukris as he reached the target. Even if they were, it really didn't matter. This was not a fight that somehow revolved around these people.

"So, what changed?" EMT whispered and slammed his blade into Death's scythe. "I expected you to be lounging on a beach, drinking a froo-froo drink in retirement."

The troll got no response, instead getting knocked up into the air by a flurry of scythe attacks.

"Why do you even care? You got to be loved not just once, not just twice, but three fucking times! How many times have I gotten to grace anything? Zero!"

Strangely, the author did not answer. Though, he could be just watching from afar. Not that it really mattered at this point. They had chosen this fate. And now, they would have to live with it. Kind of funny how things work out.

"Seriously?" Joey whispered as he somehow guided the armored vehicle onto Hunter's End. How exactly is beyond me. "That's your motive? Couldn't you have some actual reason for being such an asshole right now?"

Death then laughed, choosing to pull her scythe back.

 **Deathbringer X2!**

Once more, the scythe heads shot forth. This time, they were heading towards Joey and Issacmon.

 **Dark Pact!**

 **Holy Fog!**

A silver mist then engulfed the vehicle, which seemed to be an interesting attempt at repelling the attack. Only for the scythe heads to get stuck in the windscreen.

"It was worth a shot." Issacmon added as the two returned their attention to Officer EMT.

In this case, our resident troll had resorted to an old fashioned sword fight. You know, the kind of fight one would expect to find in Appli Monsters. Only to be replaced by skirmishes that only last a single attack.

"Is your little trivia more interesting than our battle?" Death accused, only for EMT to laugh. "Answer me, dammit!"

Yet, the author didn't answer. You would think she would notice the pattern by now. But I guess not. Maybe if she gave asked an actual question, maybe I would answer. After all, it's quite rude to shout demands in the hope that you would get what you want.

While the author was thinking of anything else to add to his monologue, EMT switched back to his rocket launcher and fired it off. Even at point blank, there wasn't even a scratch upon the 'doll'. Though, if you hit them with enough force, they'll go down.

"You're different now." Death snarled and slammed her scythe into the troll. "You've changed and not for the better."

"Uh… Which one of us are you talking about?" EMT responded and reloaded his weapon.

"Does it fucking matter? Just fucking die already!"" Death shouted as EMT watched on, suddenly deciding to just sit down and enjoy the pudding cup. Which, was somehow the same pudding cup that he had offered Chacha about a year ago. Which had previously been swallowed whole and almost stolen back by said girl.

Supposedly, the damn thing would reveal the plot of the story you were in. Why exactly anyone would think that is beyond me. But I digress.

EMT then pulled the lid off, licking the possibly stale contents off. Afterwards, he pulled a spoon out and stuck it into the contents of the cup. But just as he was about to take a spoonful, Death snatched it away.

"Hey!" the troll shouted, watching as his opponent put the spoon up to their lips.

"Oh? You wanted some?" Death taunted as EMT got up, biting down onto the hand holding the pudding cup. "Let go, you fuckhead!"  
Of course, the troll decided to not listen. Instead, he chose to bite down even harder.

"You have to the count of three. If you don't let go, there will be no mo-

Before she could swear for umpteenth time, EMT kicked her in between the legs. Of course, he did have to let go of Death's hand. Which no longer had the pudding cup.

"Yum." EMT answered, only to find a gray outline around his body. "Okay?"

 **Officer EMT infusion digivolve too… Honchomon!**

 _Scanning…_

 **Honchomon**

 **Ultimate, Data**

 **Special Moves: Table Flip, Justice Shield, Finale**

 **.**

 **The author: What do you think?  
EMT: Ask me that once I can see what I look like.**

 **The author: Oh yeah. I probably should do something about that.**

 _Scan Complete._

In the place of Officer EMT, stood the exact same troll. The only difference, was a pair of sunglasses and him now wearing a cardboard mech suit. What? You try topping an already awesome design.

"Oh, just the shut your mouth you dumb fuck." Death answered. "His design was stupid."

 **Table Flip!**

A table then appeared, which EMT then flung up into the air. He then watched it fall back down, only to bonk Death in the head.

 **Deathbringer X2!**

Once more, Death pulled her scythe back and watched as the head shot out. In a way, it had grown quite predictable. In retrospect, maybe I should have given her a second move. Though, I had no clue that this would be what awaited me.

"Nobody cares!" Death announced, suddenly get quite pumped as she watched her attack for the upteempth time. It wasn't even that impressive.

 **Justice Shield!**

EMT then concentrated, watching the table from before to teleport in front of him. While it was sort-of effective, it left a lot to be desired.

 **Reaper's Embrace X3!**

Instead of the usual three scythe heads shooting out, fifteen of them decided to show their stupid little faces.

"Say goodbye!" Death announced, bringing us ever closer to her getting muted. EMT only looked on and laughed, choosing instead to step to the right. "That isn't how it works, stupid!"

Seriously? You're going to throw a fit over that? You do realize you were picking a fight. Or has the the timekeeper took away all your common sense?

"Don't you dare bring him into this!" Death shouted. "He's a far better person than you ever were! At the very least, he actually gives a shit about everyone! All you ever cared about is that Chaos bitch. That bitch can rot in hell for all I care!"

"Are you sure you should be saying those sort of things?" EMT whispered, only to give a wink to someone.

"Why do you fu-"

Before Death could finish her truly enlightening sentence, a claymore connected with her skull. Strangely, it was this that forced her to teleport away.

"Good to see you're still alive." EMT whispered, only for the loud honking of a horn to fill the air.

"Get out of the way, large plastic bird!"  
"Maybe you should try backing up your vehicle first!"

"Couldn't Elena just transform back?"

"Yes, but I doubt having a pair of tires on my tail is really helping!"

EMT took a deep breath, only to sigh.

"See you on the other side?" he whispered, only for the other person o just nod.

With that, the troll ran over to his vehicle and hopped in. It had been far too long since everyone had seen each other. For now, it was a time of recollection and telling of stories of their travels and the little things in-between...

 _Endgame: Digital Adventures Online reached._

 _Endgame 7/10 achieved._

* * *

Notes:

With that, we step away for a little bit from DAO as our heroes reunite after being separated for the past 25 chapters. Kind of crazy when you think about it.

While there isn't a clear date as too when we'll return to Delta, I hope to do so by the end of the year.

.

Next Time: Our heroes catch up with one another...


	64. Saikai

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 64

Saikai

When we last saw our heroes, they had just reached Hunter's End, having spent the past couple of months travelling on in small groups. And now, would be finally reuniting with each other.

"So we're all back together." Elena whispered and squeezed Alice's hand. "It's been so long."

"I know." Alice whispered back, watching as multiple members of the team glanced towards them with a look of caution. "Feels kinda weird…"

"It probably doesn't help that you're in a relationship now." Lily whispered as she pulled her yumi up, notching an arrow back. "They probably think Alice has managed to manipulate you into thinking that."

"Now, now, let's not jump to conclusions." Adarnamon whispered and gave the succubus a slight slap to the back with her wings. "Maybe everyone has moved on."

As she said that, their teammates gazes focused upon them.

"So, what's new with you two?" Joey inquired and the duo took a deep breath. Yokozamon and Consligmon made a glance towards the two girls, while Adarnamon and Lily looked off into space.

"Alice and I are a couple now." Elena finally answered and took a deep breath afterwards, taking in the expressions of her teammates. Overall, they seemed content with this sudden 'reveal', possibly suspecting the two would end up with each other for quite some time.

"Anything else?" Aaron inquired as he pulled a notebook and pencil out, scribbling down what Elena had said.

*Let's see… * Suiko started and poke her head out of Alice's stomach. Almost instantly, everyone except Elena and Alice now had their weapons focused upon her. *Didn't I introduce myself?*

Yokozamon only chuckled and cleared his throat.

"That is Miss Suiko Tanaka, Miss Alice's something or other." the yak explained and watched as them put their arms down. "Now that we got that out of the way, continue on Miss Suiko."

Before she continued her initial sentence, Suiko decided to shift the rest of her body to be beside her 'vessel'.

"Of course. We found ourselves in some sort of monotone school, eventually leading ourselves to some room where Jestery was teaching some kids."

The members of Delta stared towards the 'ghost', unsure of how to answer this now revealed information. While it did seem quite odd for the jester of all people to be teaching such young and impressionable minds, maybe she had been using the opportunity to learn how t-

But before the author could finish his speculation, Jestery teleported in. Strangely, she seemed to be in quite a good mood for someone who hadn't been on their best behavior.

"Author should shut up." Jestery muttered and pulled her butterfly swords out. "Especially if Author wants to come out 'ahead'."

There was no response.

"Much Better."

With that now out of the way, Jestery turned her attention to the members of Delta and Vanessa.

"So, Delta and Vanessa want to know why Jestery became a teacher at St Velodias, huh?" Jestery whispered and focused her gaze upon Vanessa, the dark blades leader's hands were right on her longsword. "I realize you hate me for what my mother did, but that gives you no right to direct your anger for her at me."

Vanessa then charged towards the jester, slamming her longsword into the omega's chest. Jestery responded by swing her butterfly swords towards her opponent and only managed to hit the air.

"Ugh." Aaron mumbled, following it up with a deep breath. "Just another piece of the puzzle called life."

He scribbled down Jestery's announcement and returned his attention to Suiko.

"There, Consligmon gave us the rundown on why he headed to the digital world and we got to meet 'our' parents."

"I'm guessing it didn't go well?" Joey inquired and Alice laughed.

"Didn't go well is an understatement." the gambler answered. "I attacked them and my mom sent us to some weird ruined earth. After tricking an alternate version of Suiko and I to commit suicide, we got new threads and then got teleported to Drogaciji Academy. I ran into Elena there and we 'celebrated' our victory."

"So you kissed, in other words?" Fatemon whispered, only to burst into to laughter. "To think Alice Zwingli, a lying che-"

Before he could finish his mocking, Polly delivered a right hook to his jaw.

"Thank you." the harem mage whispered and returned his attention to Elena and Alice. "Please continue."

The corsair gave him the thumbs up, only to whisper something to Alice and get a nod back.

"After a brief 'stint' of being a pirate and beating the final boss of this place for the time, I managed to reach Drogaciji Academy." Elena explained. "With Alice and our digimon in tow, I was transferred 'ownership' of Alice from her parents to me as punishment for what she did."

Their fellow teammates gave them a confused glance, even more unsure of how to react to this. At this moment, they would just have to roll with it. Though, it couldn't be any more weirder than the room hurtling down towards the void.

"Of course, her parents were upset and attempted to kill us. So we left and made a stop at some weird high school. Some more stuff happened and we discovered a new power: Unity. After that, we arrived here."

With that, the gale corsair breathed a sigh of relief.

By that point, Vanessa had given up fighting on Jestery and watched the jester teleport away. At least she got to keep her sword.

"I'll go next." Aaron whispered and looked up from his notebook. "We arrived in Witchelny, where Fatemon managed to get himself captured by the authorities."

Both Polly and Chacha gave a Fatemon a questionable glare, but returned their gazes back to Aaron.

"After a short pep talk, he told Gentleman and I to find Usagi. Only instead we found some crazy guy who claimed to be the final boss of all of this. He then babbled for a bit, but I managed to beat him and get a pocketwatch." the detective added and watched as Elena's gaze focus in on him, only to smile. "Once we got back, we found Jestery in Fatemon's cell and just left them there."

Fatemon laughed, only to follow it up by clearing his throat.

"After escaping Aaron and Gentleman, that stupid tournament happened." the harem mage remarked. "Once that was done, I took a shortcut through the dream world and found what remained of one of the two earths, silent."

He made a glance towards Polly, giving her a nod. She gave a nod back and cracked a smile.

"My turn, I guess." the monk magi remarked. "My parents locked me in a test tube, claiming it was for my own personal 'good'. So I bided my time and strength, waiting for the moment to strike back. Somehow, they had managed to capture that corrupted Usagi girl and forced Olrumon to 'cure' it."

Aaron glanced towards his first partner, possibly confused why such smart people would do such a stupid thing. Yet, there was no answer here. So, the detective turned his attention to Vanessa and mumbled something to her. Whatever it was, the dark blades leader understood it and mumbled something back.

While they did that, Olrumon turned his attention to the group.

"After a short chase that involved me digivolving, I hooked up with Chacha and she explained some things." the rabbit idol explained. "After that, Polly broke herself out and we managed to rendezvous with Fatemon."

After explaining his role within all of this, Olrumon turned towards Polly, Chacha and Fatemon.

"I found out the fate of those I had lost." Fatemon whispered and took a deep breath. "What followed was the three of us choosing our own fates and hitchhiking with Aaron, Gentleman and... Vanessa."

Vanessa made a quick glance towards the harem mage and gave him a scowl, only for Jestery to suddenly appear again.

"Reunion time over, Delta!" the jester announced, only to have a bunch of weapons pointed at her. "You can't kill Jestery! Jestery is invincible!"

With that, Jestery floated towards the edge of Hunter's End, only to be pulled back up to the digital world.

"I'm guessing that is our way out." Elena whispered and switched forms, allowing Alice and Lily to get on. While they did that, the other humans and non-flying digimon minus Vanessa got into Officer EMT's armored vehicle. Which he was still able to drive somehow. After getting themselves 'buckled', they headed off…

* * *

Notes:

It's good to be back.

While not quite all the endgame stuff is quite ready (Just Another Fangan Ronpa Story is almost there), there is enough to get started on DAO again.

Also, a huge shout-out to fellow digimon fanfic writer J Ken. If you haven't checked out Digimon Future yet, you really should.

.

Next Time: For the 100th chapter, a funeral.


	65. Funeral for a friend

I don't own digimon.

Session 65

Funeral for a friend

Evil TK took a deep breath.

"You didn't deserve this." he whispered, holding back the tears ready to flow down his face. "You were a good man, living up to Davis's expectation long after he had died. Even when you met me again, after all I had put you through, you still treated me far greater than I ever deserved to be."

The gentlemanly asshole took a deep breath and stared down towards the ground.

.

This whole mess began a day ago, amid a cloudless sky.

After many months of planning, gathering supplies and training, the moment everyone had been waiting for occurred. Soon, they would be free from the constant threat of angels and free to live their lives out in peace.

"Ready for this?" a voice called out and Evil TK turned around, finding a teenage boy standing before him. He was dressed in just a pair of sweatpants with a plain t-shirt. Yet, his blue eyes and short black hair seemed to make up with it. Though, he was currently sipping something from a tea cup. One would think after what happened all that time ago would have left a greater mark upon him. Yet, the gentlemanly asshole allowed it to slide.

"Of course." Evil TK answered and watched as a small green worm walked up. "I should probably get Patamon."

With that, he excused himself from the conversation and made his way to the ramshackle hut he and Hikari called home. Inside, it wasn't anything that impressive, just a circular wooden wall with a bamboo floor. A couple cots lined the back, which pretty much it when it came too furniture. Not that really mattered. It served its job, which was more than enough in his book.

"Wake up, Patamon." he whispered and watched as his orange pig digimon partner opened his eyes. "Today is the day."

Patamon looked towards him and jumped up into the air, the two promptly exiting the one room house in a hurry…

Only to bump right into a towering figure, draped in a rainbow-colored cloak and currently munching on a variety of breads.

"Oh sorry, Lord Hazardmon." Evil TK whispered and gave the former leader a bow. "I didn't not see you there."

Lord Hazrdmon didn't answer, choosing instead to just continue on his way.

"Okay then." Patamon added as the two made their way towards the main building on the plantation.

There, a large crowd of adventurers had gathered at the front. They currently had their attention focused upon a group of figures dressed in cream white cloaks and hoods.

"Today we gather to strike a great blow to those that wish to hold us under their boot and take those we hold precious to us." one of the figures announced and held their fist up in the air. "Is everyone ready?"  
"Yes." the crowd mumbled, only to get a glare from their gracious hosts.

"We can't hear you!" a different figure added and just gazed over the people gathered. "Louder!"

"Yes!"

"Louder!"

"YES!"

The crowd then erupted in fist pumping and cheers of encouragement. While odd, it was nice to see all these different people working together towards a greater goal.

.

"I had hoped that we could all make it out in the end, maybe start anew. But that day never seems come, does it? We fight with all our might, hoping today won't be our last day."

Tears had begun to roll down his face, with Evil TK not even caring at that point.

"But sometimes, we have a make a choice for the greater good of all."

All he wanted at that point was to rewind the clock and go back, if for nothing else to see his friend again.

.

What followed, was a full-on charge to the approximate location of the angels. In this case, that meant an airship just out of reach. One would think that the invaders would have left by now, but instead they've decided to just stay and see what happens.

"Is everyone ready?" a voice announced, not that any of the people there could really tell. They were probably more focused on actually snagging the 'target' with their hooks. "Good. Since there is no going back from this moment."

The hooks began flying not even seconds after the person finished their announcement. For every one or two that missed, there were three or four that managed to reach their mark. With it, came the determined pulling of an individual with an axe to grind.

For some, it was for a fallen friend who been taken by these demons in angelic shape. For others, they had lost everything to these beasts. And then there were those who were indifferent, wanting nothing more than to flesh from steel. But no matter what motivation led them to this point, they would inflict their revenge upon the angels.

 **Hand of Fate!**

 **Heavenly Arrow!**

Their opponents were theoretical broken records, attempting to rain down endless arrows and orange beams of light down upon them.

 **Butterfly Knife Rain!**

Knives rained down upon the targets, piercing through a couple layers of metal. At the very least, it was enough to divert the angemon and angewomon's attention to the person.

"Catch me if you can." a voice called out and pulled out a pair of butterfly swords. "It's been far too long."

"Agreed, nya."

 **Priestess Arrow!**

A grey arrow shot up into the air, only to come back down engulfed a pillar of divine light.

"Nice shot, Kari." Evil TK remarked and pulled his new pistol out.

"It's Kuro Neko, nya!" Kuro shouted and swung her left paw at the air. "Does he really have to do that every time, nya?"

Her friend only sighed and put her hand on Kuro's back, reminding her to not to let the gentlemanly asshole get to her. Afterwards, the two gave chase, quickly catching up to TK inside what appeared to be a large hangar. Rusted metal walls stretched quite a distance on both sides, protecting just the untouched concrete floor and the musty air inside.

With Evil TK though, was the black haired boy from earlier along with the world's most unluckiest 'harem'.

"Hey!" the harem 'leader' shouted and turned his attention towards the roof of the building. He looked to be no older than the black haired boy, but chose to dress in a hoodie and jeans. One would possibly consider him to be a background character, if not for his spiky chestnut hair and ahoge.

"Okay." black hair boy remarked and turned his attention to the large neko angel hybrid that followed the harem leader. "I'm guessing she's with you"

Before the harem leader could answer, a large green armored insect man thing walked up.

"There you are, Ken." the ultimate whispered and the black haired boy stopped. "I thought I had lost you."

"I'm alright, Jewelbeemon." Ken explained and turned his attention back towards the far end of the hall, eyeing the large doorway ahead. "Soon or late we would have to face the past, I didn't think it would be now of all times."

Kuro Neko and the girl gave him a confused glance, mumbling something to each other.

"It's good to see you're here as well, Victoria." Ken greeted, only for the black cat to laugh.

"I'm surprised you even remembered who I was." Victoria answered. "Though, that could be because I stabbed you."

Ken didn't answer, choosing instead to continue focusing in on the exit of the room.

"Intruders! Intruders!" a voice announced as more angels burst forth, staffs and yumis in hand. "Prepare to fall in the name of the Royal Angelic Empire."

"Okay…" one of harem leader's companions, ninja girl responded and flung a kunai towards a nearby angel, only to watch it bounce off harmlessly

"You just had to do that, didn't you?" harem leader remarked and pulled his gun out.

"I would like that one back." Evil TK added and got no response. The harem leader took the shot, watching as the bullet travel out…

"Bullseye, nya!" Kuro Neko announced and watched the angel fall that out of the way, the catgirl pulled her bow out. She quickly fired an arrow off, watching as a beam of light tore a hole through the troops that remained. After that, the hangar opened up into three different halls. The harem went down the far left one, Kuro Neko & Victoria went down the middle, leaving Evil TK and Ken with the tunnel on the right.

"So, how have you been?" Ken inquired, motioning for the gentlemanly asshole to follow.

"Alright, even if Hikari is constantly asking me to take things further." Evil TK responded. "So, blue or pink?"

"Grey."

Evil TK gave him a confused glance, only to break away at the last second.

"How do you think our fellow comrades are faring?"

Ken just stood there, possibly contemplating the answer.

"Well, I hope well." the chosen of kindness answered as the end of the hall quickly came into view. "Can I ask you something

Both boys and their digimon partners then took a deep breath, stepping into the next room.

Somehow, they had managed to choose the large open room with three thrones. The middle throne was occupied, a large male 'angel' sitting upon it.

"Fuck." Evil TK whispered and took another deep breath. "Of all the rooms we could have ended up in…"  
"We were bound to have to face the consequences of our actions one of these days." Ken responded and took a deep breath.

Almost on cue, the shifting of gears filled the air, threatening to destroy any silence that may have existed.

"Hello, Ken and Takeru." a voice whispered and a tall figure shifted up from their throne.

 _Scanning…_

 **Sheraphim**

 **Super Ultimate, Despair**

 **Special Moves: ?**

 **.**

 **Evil TK: Where's Rune when you need him?  
Ken: Possibly attempting to kick Lord Hazardmon's ass.**

 **Evil TK: Because of course he is. I guess it'll just be us then.**

 **Ken: Let's finish this.**

 _Scan complete._

"Do you really think that you two of all people, can defeat me, the blessed king of all the angels?!"

"Absolutely." both boys answered, their gazes focusing in on their target. There was no running, no cowering in fear. All that was left to do now was to bring this angel down, once and for all. If they known what would happen next, would they've taken the same foolhardy action? Would a cautious approach have done them just as much good? Or was this predetermined outcome, unchanged by fate itself?

In a way, it did not matter. Not to TK, not to Jewelbeemon, not to MaloMyotismon and not to Ken.

This was to be their fate, whether they liked it or not. There, a single choice was made.

"Tell Ririsu I love her and to always be kind."

Those were Ken Ichijouji's last words as Sepharim's held him in front, closing his eyes and smiling as Evil TK took the shot. Time seemed to slow down mere seconds later, forcing the gentlemanly asshole to watch as the projectile sailed through the one exposed area of the angel's armor. At the cost of having to watch the last unchanged digidestined take a bullet through the neck as well.

"I'm sorry, Ken." Evil TK whispered and took a deep breath, watching as time seemed to resume around him and the two bodies slumped to the floor. "No matter what happens next, whether it be peace, ruin, or even possible death. I'll keep my promise, no matter what."

It was possibly the most honest thing he had said in quite a while. Though, taking Ken's diary off of his body possibly cancelled out any karma that could be gained from such act. Not that he was really keeping track of that, having long come to term with that sort of thing. For the moment, he would just have to drag the body by himself. It was a surprisingly uneventful time, giving the gentlemanly asshole more time than he ever needed. He was also reminded of that one quote about butterflies from Victoria. While it probably would make sense for his current situation, it seemed like the sort of thing that would probably used at the start of the chapter. That, and it would feel like admitting to the black cat that she was right about that. It was the sort of huge blow to both his pride and ego that he didn't need at the moment.

"Almost there." MaloMyotismon called out, only to revert back to Patamon. Jewelbeemon did the same, returning back to Wormmon. "Would you like any help, Takeru?"  
Evil TK didn't answer, choosing instead to continue pulling Ken's body towards the edge of the airship deck. Down below, only a couple of people still remained, some to watch, others to check on the wounded.

"Evil TK?" a voice called out and a woman rushed over to the ropes, watching as Evil TK carefully repelled down.

"Oh hi, Ririsu." Evil TK answered and laid down the body, turning his gaze to the former digidestined of love and sincerity. He had expected to see some slutty looking princess dressed in some exquisite yet out of place outfit. But instead, he found himself looking upon some ordinary girl dressed in a short sleeve t-shirt and jeans, which did nothing to hide the massive 'bump' on her lower stomach. "I'm sorry, but Ken didn't make it."

The gentlemanly asshole watched as tears began to fall down Ririsu's face. He told her what had happened, admitting that it was his bullet that ended her husband's life. Once that was out of the way, the two parted. Possibly to reflect on what had happened and decide what to do next.

.

Evil TK took one more deep breath, staring at the gravestone.

"No matter what happens, I'll be the best godfather that I can be." he whispered and shifted his gaze up towards the sky. "Just you watch, Ken!"

In the distance, he could see a small group of people. As tempting as it was to just go and see who exactly was coming, the gentlemanly asshole had other things to do. Things that for once in his life, seemed to have some sort of purpose to them…

* * *

Notes:

Before I get into the main notes, I would thank everyone for your support for the past 100 chapters across four fics no less. Thank you. Your support really does help.

This chapter is pretty much a 'throwback' to the first chapter of DA03. Though, there will be more stuff related to the events of this chapter later down the line. Some of it will be in AWC though.

.

Next Time: Delta arrives and trouble brews as an old wound threatens to reopen...


	66. A Sense of Understanding

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 66

A Sense of Understanding

Excitement filled the 'caravan' of Delta.

After two longs of days of non-stop travel, they had finally reached the plantation of the dark blades.

"Finally." Elena whispered and slowly descended down towards the ground. "It feels so good to finally feel the ground again."

With that, Alice stepped off and allowed the gale corsair to switch back to her human form.

"Much better?" the gambler remarked, only to get a nod from her partner. As that all happened, the other two vehicles rolled up under a blue sky with a small flock of tiny reddish orange birds. "Interesting, I don't remember those birds at all."

Elena turned her attention to the creatures, staring at them with a sense of awe and wonder as the rest of the group walked up.

"They just started appearing recently." Vanessa explained and took a deep breath. "You'll get used to them."

She made a quick glance towards the members of Delta, giving them a quick once-over. The sensible choice was to not allow them into her team's plantation, just on the sheer grounds that it would cause nothing more than strife and unrest among the inhabitants. Yet, she suspected telling them 'no' would result in a very lopsided fight not in her favor.

"So, are we going to go in or not?" Joey inquired and watched as the dark blades leader focused her gaze on him. "Is there something wrong?"

Vanessa did not answer, choosing instead to head towards the entrance of the compound. The others followed right behind, gazing all around for any potential traps that could possibly spring up on them. While they were unable to find any, a sense of unrest seemed to fill them. Though, they couldn't figure out what exactly could bring such a filling forth.

"My my, what do we have here?" a voice announced and a figure swooped down from a nearby tree branch. "Good to see that you people are still alive."

The members of Delta just stood there, unsure of how to really react to the sudden appearance of this figure.

"Uh… Who are you?" Elena whispered, only for the figure to flash a twisted smile.

 **Dark Fryer!**

A purple fireball shot out of their opponent's hands and towards Elena.

 **Gale Strike!**

While sluggish and possibly exhausted, the gale corsair managed to swing both her kris into the projectile.

 **Spiritflare!**

 **Shadow Neko Scratch!**

'Hey! Be careful with those things.' Suiko remarked as Joey's claws managed to scratch her side. She still managed to fire her shotgun off, even if it now confused the target even more.

"Okay…" the figure whispered and took a step forward, revealing a familiar girl in a lavender lolita outfit. "What? Were you expecting someone else?"

All she got was silence, only for a potion vial to slam into her neck.

"Victoria Arcana, you're under arrest." Aaron whispered and took a step forward.

"For what, exactly?" Victoria responded as she pulled her butterfly swords out, focusing her vision on the detective. "I've done many things in my lifetime, you'll have to be more specific."

"For the murder of Valerie Arcana and impersonating her." the detective whispered and took a deep breath. "Do you have anything to say for it, Victoria Arcana?"

Victoria didn't answer and just stared at her opponent.

"Can we please resolve this like mature adults?" Gentleman inquired, putting himself in between the two. "Or at the very least, explain why you are trying to hurt this young lady?"

Just as he finished his sentence, Gentleman was forced to duck. If he hadn't, a large vial would've collided with his head and done who knows what to him. It had the added effect of him stepping out of the way, which allowed Aaron a free potion fling at Victoria.

 **Butterfly Knife Rain!**

Of course, the black cat took this same opportunity to rain knives down upon Aaron.

"It's your choice." Vanessa whispered, watching as her friend decided to just stare at his opponent. "If you want to go through with it, be my guest."

Yet, Aaron continued to ignore her. No, he was more focused on the why of it all, a reminder of the promise he had made all that time ago. He was so close, yet seemingly so far from his goal. Maybe it was the fact that he had not been told anything about this. Or, it was the fact that Victoria had the guts to attack them before in this form. Inside, he was slapping himself for not noticing it the first time around.

"DAMMIT!" the detective shouted and charged at the target, flinging potion vials in that general direction, wanting to destroy the opponent, "WHY DID YOU KILL HER? WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO USE HER CORPSE TO PASS OFF AS SOMEONE ELSE?! WHY, YOU LITTLE BIT-"

Before he could finish his rant, the swish of a blade filled the air and the detective found himself a tiny bit lighter.

"Been too long since I've gotten to do that." Victoria whispered and sat herself down on the ground. "Let's settle this like mature adults."

Aaron reluctantly sat himself down, taking deep breaths as he did so.

"Sorry." he mumbled, not wanting to admit possible defeat to the opponent. Yet, he knew that this was the better option at the moment. If nothing else, it could give him Victoria's side of this mess…

Our story begins a long time ago, with the attack upon the main base of the Order.

For LadyDevimon, she had other things on her mind at the moment. Currently, the dark angelic digimon was straddling a large white digi-egg covered in an assortment of colored dots within one of the many darkened rooms within the compound. The only source of light was that of a single light bulb on hanging from a string. Which, was more than enough to illuminate the whole room.

"This might be the last time I ever see you." she whispered and took a deep breath. "As much as Piedmon and I would want to raise you as our own, I suspect they would do everything in their power to prevent such a feat."  
LadyDevimon carefully placed the egg down, making sure to not disturb it.

 **Holy Fryer!**

The ultimate ducked and watched as a ball of divine energy sailed right above her head.

"Who goes there?" she shouted and watched as a teenage girl entered the room. She was dressed in a purple lolita dress and black fishnet stockings, complimented by her purple heels. A pair of dark blue eyes stared towards her, sort of going with her long black hair.

"I'm sorry, but orders are orders." the girl whispered and pulled out a pair of butterfly swords out. "Even if you don't agree with them, sometimes you have to just give a nod and continue on."

LadyDevimon didn't answer, choosing to look at the possible opponent with a mix of confusion and interest. While she didn't want to get into a fight at this moment, she would not let her child be taken by these 'fiends'.

 **Darkness Wave!**

A cloud of bats shot out of her hands, quickly making their way towards the girl. The opponent strangely laughed and jumped over the attack, pulling her left butterfly blade back in the process.

 **Frost Fryer!**

A ball of ice then shot out of the blade, slamming into LadyDevimon. In a matter of seconds, the ultimate found herself trapped within a large block of ice.

"See, that wasn't too hard." the unnamed girl whispered as she walked over to the egg, pulling out a purple plastic oval thing in the process. While LadyDevimon didn't quite recognise what exactly the thing was, something about it told her that there wasn't anything good.

"Don't… you… dare." she whispered as her body began to flicker, her hands and feet now 'melting' within this frozen prison. Her legs and arms came next, reduced to even more goop.

By the time the 'melting had reached her body, the egg had been teleported to an unknown place.

"There. Now be a good… something or other and stay in that ice cube of yours." the girl announced, giving the pile of goop a wave and a cocky smile. It was the sort of thing you shouldn't do when the match was over. Rarely did such taunting go over well.

 **Dark Lightning Kick!**

Somehow, the slime managed to reform itself into a BlackGatomon and break free from the ice. She charged towards the opponent, managing to grab hold of the girl's butterfly swords and get on top of her.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" the girl announced and fell forward, attempting to crush the black cat that was trying to kill her. "If my big sis Vanessa finds out about you, she'll make you pay!"  
Yet, the opponent did not listen. Instead, they chose to use the girl's butterfly swords to end this. Afterwards, she slid over to the body and absorbed it, ending this mess.

.

"I think I understand now." Aaron whispered and took another deep breath. "I'm sorry for shouting at you."

Victoria didn't answer, choosing instead to laugh.

"Well you're an oddity." the black cat whispered and stood up. "Of all the ways you could respond, you go with shouting and apologizing. Not many people choose that route."

Aaron stared towards his 'friend' with a look of both confusion and gratitude.

"Uh… thanks?" the mending detective whispered and made a quick glance towards Vanessa, who had already pulled her longswords out. "Calm down. It's not worth it."

Vanessa growled, but reluctantly sheathed her blades.

"One of these days…" she muttered and stormed into camp. Delta just watched, unsure of how to really react. Well other than a blank face of course.

"I wish you the best of luck, Delta." Victoria answered and chose to walk away.

"Uh… thanks?" the detective whispered, turning his attention back to his teammates. "That still doesn't explain why you attacked us..."

"You'll find out soon enough." the black cat answered as she headed onwards. "Hopefully, you'll have enough energy to mend another divide.

Aaron sighed and cracked a smile.

For as great as it was to have another piece to this puzzle, it seemed that he was still missing some of the bigger picture. But for now, there were other things that needed to be resolved at the moment.

"Let's go then." Elena whispered and slowly headed towards the entrance of the plantation.

 **Toxic Arrow!**

 **Holy Spray!**

 **Arcane Flame!**

 **Radiating Thunder!**

 **Electro Berserker Fang!**

One by one, the attacks slammed into the gale corsair. It was the sort of thing that only the most cowardly of people would pull.

"That is for Arresterdramon, you stupid slut."

* * *

Notes:

This was a fun chapter to write. Especially with a tweaked Aaron.

Also, this chapter marks two years of Digital Adventure Online. Thank you for the support you've given me. It means the world.

.

Next Time: Some grudges never go away, only growing deeper with time.


	67. An old grudge

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 67

An old grudge

Elena Yuliana laid on the ground.

Had she been given the choice, she would've tried to have reason with these thugs.

But, this was not one of those situations. No, it was one where stuff such as fairness and good will had been thrown out, getting replaced with violence and disrespect.

Yet, she trusted in her team to pull through this. If nothing else, they would be able to hold out until she managed to wake up again. Just in case, she made a wish in her head, one for getting out of this alive.

"Are you so sure about that?" a voice 'whispered' and began to laugh. "You should be glad that it was just you that those fiends hit…"

.

"Crap." Alice whispered and grabbed hold of Elena's arms, turning around to face her teammates. "Since Elena is currently out at the moment, would people mind if I take the lead on this?"

'Are you sure about this?' Yokozamon whispered, getting a nod from her master. "Of course, I'll provide direct fire should something come up."

"I'll scout ahead." Consligmon whispered and motioned for Adarnamon, Issacmon, Gentleman and Chacha to follow. This left Polly, Joey, Aaron, Fatemon, Officer EMT and Lily.

"Can I just stay at the armored vehicle?" Fatemon inquired and Polly sighed. "Personally, I really don't want to die for my crimes."

The monk magi took a deep breath and walked over to the harem mage. She then whispered something under her breath, with her partner giving an assuring nod.

"I changed my mind." Fatemon muttered and took a deep breath. "But I better get that daiquiri once this all said and done, Polly."

Both Aaron and Joey stared at the harem mage, quite confused by his newfound tune. Yet, they decided to let it be for the moment.

"Is everyone ready now?" Alice inquired and took a step forward, only for a rock to slam into her back. The lucky gambler then turned around, finding Olrumon standing there. "Sorry about that, I kind of forgot you were there."

"It's alright." the rabbit idol whispered and looked up towards Alice. "I'll just work that much harder so people remember me."

With that now out of the way, the aerial digimon soared up into the sky as the humanoids got their weapons ready.

 **Alice infusion digivolve too… GamblerNekomon!**

"Let's go then." Alice whispered and took another step forward, carefully putting Elena over her back. "Do not think of trying to mess with us!"  
Snickering filled the air, quickly filling the silence that had just formed.  
"You're nothing more than a gorgon in human skin." a voice added and a turtle slid over to the group. "You should just leave, especially before

"Who even are you?" Lily whispered, watching Adarnamon suddenly swoop down and sink her talons into the turtle. "Adarnamon?"  
"Old wounds sometimes never heal." the bird whispered as she sunk her talons into the totally unnamed turtle's skull. "This is just one that needs to be closed."

The turtle only laughed, choosing to follow it up by opening his mouth and puking out a stream of whitish purple liquid.

 **Whirlwind Sting!**

A large twister of wind and poison shot down and began to spin around the small clearing Delta and their opponent found themselves in. While an interesting choice, it was not the greatest move the bird could have used.

 **Holy Spray!**

The turtle turned his attention to Adarnamon, spraying her with his mystery liquid. Whatever the liquid was, all it seemed to do was burn the bird digimon a tiny bit.

 **Beautiful Gaze!**

Adarnamon stared intently at her foe, somehow freezing the turtle.

 **Incense Burn!**

Reddish smoke filled the air, invigorating the sole combatant and the user. Though, it did come at the cost of visibility for everyone. Once said smoke finally cleared, the battle could go on,

 **Seven Song!**

Adarnamon began to sing, unleashing a cross between a shriek and opera singing. Yet, it got the job done. And by that, I mean knock the poor bugger up towards the stratosphere.

"Congratulations. You beat one of us." a new voice announced as an arrow flew through the air, nearly hitting Alice. "But can you take us all on?"  
The opponent got no answer, with Alice and company choosing to just ignore her. It probably didn't help that their opponent was currently out of the battlefield to even be noticed.

"Hey, I talking to you!"  
 **Yumi Barrage!**

Lily pulled the bowstring of her yumi back in rapid succession, watching as each arrow flew towards the target with a sense of grace. She would have prefered to actually being able to see who exactly she was shooting at, having sort of recognised the voice from somewhere. Where exactly, she wasn't quite sure.

"It probably doesn't matter." the korawamon whispered and shifted her yumi under her kimono. "If it really did, we would all be making a bigger deal out of it."  
"You're probably right, Miss Lily." Yokozamon added and walked over, holding his hand out. "We don't want to follow behind."  
"Of course."

With that, the two made their way back over to the group.

"Okay…" Consligmon muttered and turned visible, watching the two digimon in silence. Once the turkey was content, he shifted back into the shadows and made his way over to Alice. "I didn't see what I think I saw."

With that, the group headed off once more. Or would have, if it hadn't rained down more arrows.

 **Fox Leaf Arrowheads!**

Once more, arrows rained down upon Delta. Though, this volley was slightly harder to dodge than the first. Which wasn't that much of a difference.

 **Dark Info!**

Consligmon scanned the area, searching intently for the target. While he was very out of the habit, his gaze did eventually focus on a dark blue kitsune creature amid the many trees.

"Renamon, five o'clock." he whispered and turned visible just long enough to point in the general direction of the creature before shifting back into the shadows once more.

 **Overkill!**

Yokozamon released his grip on Lily's hand, pulling his minigun from his back. A few seconds of spinning later, a stream of bullets shot out into that general direction. Which actually managed to hit something. In this case, the renamon.

"We will not yield to you." a voice announced as the rustling of leaves filled the air. "You shall fill the wrath of our queen!"

 **Blessed Bubbles!**

"Can I now get a cup of tea?!" Issacmon announced as his master ignored him. Currently, the shadow scientist was attempt to convince Polly to help him make the drink.

"Please?" Joey begged, getting an indifferent look from the monk magi. "You got to know a good tea ble-"  
Polly responded with a swift seaside throw, knocking him into the bubbles along with the other renamon.

"Ow." Joey whispered and peeled himself off a tree. "Did you have to do that?"  
"Don't make assumptions about people." Polly whispered and watched Joey get up, only for the boy to focus his gaze on Gentleman, who was currently tearing through what few renamon remained. Consligmon also joined in the fun, flinging a couple of grenades in for good measure.

Once that was done, Delta was finally able to enter the plantation.

 **Arcane Flame!**

Or would have, if someone else hadn't decided they wanted a piece of them.

"Seriously?" Alice remarked and took a deep breath, making sure to not drop Elena. "I'm not sure what my lo- I mean friend has done to piss you people off, but this needs to stop!"  
For her shout, the gambler got no response. Not that she was really expecting one, but the thought would have been nice at least.

"She took something from us." a voice announced, as what appeared to be a female humanoid floated down towards them. She was dressed in a sapphire armor dress, which seemed to compliment her blue eyes and blonde hair. A gladius on both sides of her, both of which this person seemed willing to use on them.

"Most of our masters are gone, having left for a better place. In a way, this was the last thing we could do to honor them." the person explained as Delta watched on.

"We're sorry for your loss." Alice whispered and held her hand out, watching their possible opponent give her a confused look. "While I realize this won't help you, my friends and I offer our dee-"

"SHUT UP!"

Everyone took a step back, watching as the woman pulled both of her gladius out and charged towards Alice. The gambler mumbled something under her breath and put Elena down. She pulled her guns out and took a deep breath, firing a single shot.

Time seemed to slow down, with everyone watching as the projectile made its way toward the target, who had decided standing there was the best move.

Mas-

Before she could unleash her move, the bullet fell to the ground.

"You missed." their opponent remarked and watched as Alice holstered her gun and reverted to her human form.

"I know." the gambler remarked and made a quick glance towards her love, returning it to their still unnamed opponent afterwards. "This mess is just as much my fault as it was her's. If this route is the one you and your friends truly wish to go down, you must take us both of us down at least."

Their opponent only spitted on the ground and laughed.

"Then we've made our choice then." the magical girl answered as sparks gathered upon her blades. "I'm sorry, but not really."

Alice ignored her, choosing to reach for Elena's comatose body. No matter what happened, she would make sure her friend would survive. Even if it meant giving up hers in exchange. Well, she wouldn't go that far, but you get the idea.

She closed her eyes and grabbed hold of her love's left hand, squeezing it tight as the blades swung down towards them.

 **Unity: Gale Revolver!**

Energy surged through both girls, forcing them both to their feet. They then 'charged' their weapons out, letting out a large twister of wind and bullets. Once that was done, they finished it up with a final slash and gunshot.

"Oh, I'm up." Elena remarked and looked around the area, finding that they still had not even entered the plantation.

In the time it took for Delta to deal with all the attacks, the bright blue sky had turned a nice shade of orange.

"Let's try this again, shall we?" Adarnamon suggested and the group headed off, finally able to enter the base of operations for the dark blades. But as they did, everything went black...

* * *

Notes:

Man, they couldn't catch a break at all.

This one took far longer than it should have. Oh well. I liked it how it turned out, though.

.

Next Time: Long time no see...


	68. Cell Conversations

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 68

Cell Conversations

They opened their eyes.

The outside of the plantation was long gone now, having been replaced with a dark and empty room. Three stone walls with iron bars making up the fourth surrounded them, limiting them to communication with their fellow cellmate.

"Ugh…" Joey whispered and took his meager surroundings in. He was still in his clothes from before, with his research scattered about the cell. Why their captor thought so little of it, was beyond him. Or would have, when the shadow scientist made a quick glance over it and sighed.

Even more notes had been scrawled in the margins, adding more 'clutter' to the mess of papers. Some of the 'suggestions' made sense, such as checking out stuff related to the shadows or alternate theories for things. Then there were the outdated internet memes dotted about, as if they got bored midway through it all and needed some way to keep themselves busy.

"Okay then." he thought and continued his examination of the notes. "I wonder how my partners are doing?"

.

"I demand more tea!" Issacmon shouted and shook his teacup about the enclosure. Currently, he and Gentleman found themselves within a cell, with even less to do than Joey. Which wasn't a major problem for both of them. "What did you even do in that keiserine person's army?"

Gentleman only laughed, yet cleared his throat.

"We were trained in the art of combat, manners and cleaning. Once that was done, she would usually have us spar with us, until we were ready for our assignments. After that, she sent us off." Gentleman explained as Issacmon glanced towards him, giving the guardian swordsman a look of confusion yet satisfaction. "So, how about you?"

The 'angel' shifted his gaze away from Gentleman, focusing it now on the back wall of their enclosure.

"I was Joey's first 'experiment'." Issacmon whispered and took a deep breath after saying it. "By all accounts, it shouldn't have worked. Yet, someone in the Dark Ocean thought it would be funny to throw me in."  
Gentleman stared towards the digimon and took a step forward. He then placed a hand on the 'angel' digimon's shoulder, only to get a cautious glance his direction.

"I shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry for overstepping my boundaries."

Issacmon only laughed.

"It's alright." he whispered. "I forgive you…"

.

Lily took a deep breath.

As tempting as it was to use the digital tome to break free from this prison, she knew it wasn't worth the risk.

Especially since there was no guarantee of where she would go.

"Would you mind if I cuddle with you, Adarnamon?" Lily inquired and turned her attention to the bird digimon.

"No." Adarnamon answered and fluttered away from her partner. The succubus only watched on, debating whether or not she would go after this possible prey. "Were you even listening?"

"Of course." Lily remarked and took a step towards Adarnamon. "Why don't you want to cuddle?"

"Because you're a clingy succubus plush digimon thing."

Lily only frowned, yet took another step towards the bird.

 **Seven So-**

 **Yumi Barrage!**

Before Adarnamon could even get her attack out, Lily shot a couple arrows in her direction. Though, these ones seemed less deadly than her usual ones.

 **Toxic Claws!**

"Crap." Lily whispered and dashed towards the front of their cell, only for her opponent to catch up to her and sink their talons in. "Stop!"

"But didn't you want to cuddle?" Adarnamon whispered and cracked a twisted smile. "Do you see why I don't want to cuddle with you?"

"Yes."

"Good, now find something else to do."

.

"Idiot. Stupid."

"I fucked up, majorly."

"How could I've been so stupid?!"

Consligmon was afraid.

In all his time with Alice, for short as it was, he had never seen Yokozamon act like this.

"What's wrong?" the spy turkey whispered, watching the yak slam his head into the back wall.

"I forgot to remember what I was trying to forget." Yokozamon answered and stopped banging his head against the wall. "I had been forced to make a promise, but I made my choice."

"Okay…"

Consligmon took a deep breath, making sure to make a mental note about the rambling of his partner.

"To who exactly?" he asked and watched Yokozamon continue to bang his head against the wall. "If I know who, we can possibly res-

 **Charging Strike!**

Yokozamon turned his attention away from the wall and charged towards Consligmon. The spy turkey sidestepped to the right, finding a newly formed indent in the iron bars.

"Are you alright?" he whispered, only for Yokozamon to shake his head. To some extent, it was stupid of him to even ask that. Of course the yak wasn't alright. When was the last time you saw someone banging their head against a wall thought: "I better they're doing fine.". I thought not, I hope. "I didn't mean to piss you off, author."

Offscreen, the author took a deep breath. In retrospect, he probably shouldn't have called attention to that comment. But, old habits die hard…

.

"Ugh…"

Elena and Alice opened their eyes.

Currently, the duo found themselves bound to each other wrists, sitting on the floor. Strangely, their captors had attached a black circle around their neck.

"First things first, we need to get out of these bo-"

Before Alice could even finish her sentence, Elena had switched to her digimon form, shattering the quite weak bonds holding their hands together. Only to bite down into the gambler's neck and rip her circle off. Strangely, there was no blood or sign of a bite mark. Instead, a bit of white cat fur had formed.

"Alice, I'm sorry." Elena whispered and got no response, watching as her love's back fell to the floor. "I didn't intend for that happen."

"It's alright." Alice answered and watched as her body became covered in white cat fur. Her dress then disappeared, almost immediately getting replaced with her NekoGamblermon outfit. "We'll probably figure something out."

A few seconds later, any trace of the gambler being human was gone, having been replaced by her human form.

"Yay! Kitty is back!"

Almost on cue, Jestery appeared.

"Please go away." Elena whispered and pointed her tail hook towards the jester.

"How rude." Jestery remarked and placed a gloved hand on Alice's head. "I just wanted to pet kitty's head."

 **Spiritflare!**

A shotgun blast rang off, knocking the jester back as Suiko poked her head out.

*I'm guessing something happened, since she was here.* the schoolgirl remarked and looked down at Alice's body. "Oh, I don't think that's supposed to happen."

"Yeah." Alice added and placed her upper paws around Elena's neck, carefully pulling the circle around the corsair's neck off. "So I just need to concentrate to switch back?"

"I think so…" Elena whispered as she and Suiko watched the gambler attempt to switch forms. After a few tense minutes of near successes and straight-up failures, Alice managed to switch back. "You did it!"

They then turned their attention to Jestery, who just stood there. Unlike usual, blood covered her clothes and a sense of uneasiness hung around her. Elena whispered something to Alice, who nodded in agreement.

"Good for you people." Jestery remarked and teleported away.

.

Unexpected.

Of all the things Officer EMT expected to see at that moment, Chaos was at the bottom of the list.

"What do you want?" the troll mecha remarked, focusing his gaze on the white mage.

"I was just checking on someone." Chaos answered and made her way to the right edge of the bars. "Though, I didn't expect you of all people to be stuck in a cell."  
Officer EMT groaned and took a deep breath. While his personal experiences with Chaos were limited to the tournaments, she was still a servant to the author. Which in his mind, made her just as responsible within all of this as 'they' were.

"Are you still stuck on that? That was over three years ago."

EMT slammed his foot into the ground and snarled.

"If weren't for them showing up, we wouldn't be in this fucking situation!"

 **Table Flip!**

A metal table slammed into the wall of bars, followed up by a couple of rockets. While a hole was created, it wasn't quite big enough for the troll to squeeze through. Chaos took a deep breath and stepped closer to EMT.

"I'm sorry for whatever they may have possibly did to you." the white mage whispered. "I realize my apology might mean nothing to you, but that is the best I can on their behalf."

Officer EMT did not answer, choosing instead to spit at the floor.

"Say that to Blade, to Lily, to Olrumon. Shout it to the head honcho and his men. Scream it to all the innocents whose lives were snuffed because your idiot sisters attempted to prolong the loop!" he announced and slammed into his indent, breaking through. "Your apology means nothing in the face of what happened."

"You're right." Chaos remarked and gazed towards her potential opponent. "I overstepped my boundaries. I'm sorry for that."

With that, she headed onwards and left the troll mecha to his own devices.

.

Olrumon sighed.

Whether by some paperwork error or just dumb luck, he had not been placed in a cell. Instead, he found himself in a large rectangular tent. Cots lined the walls, with people and digimon of all sorts moving about. Yet, it was one particular group that caught his attention. It was a large group, numbering at least fourteen or fifteen. They were an interesting mess of people, especially with the catgirl in the back seeming to bark orders to them.

"You there." the creature remarked and pointed towards Olrumon. "Do you think you could help our friend."

Olrumon took a deep breath and made his way over. There, he found who his patient would be…

* * *

Notes:

This is pretty much a mess, though it does set up a whole lot of stuff for later.

.

Next Time: Broken toys and eyeless dolls, the remnants of the order...


	69. Coaster of Life

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 69

Coaster of Life

They opened their eyes.

For the mahora trio, they currently found themselves tied to a chair. Said chair was surrounded by four cream colored walls and one of those weird grayish black carpet you find in most schools.

"Are you both alright?" Polly whispered and slipped out of her binds, giving Chacha and Fatemon a quick glance. While both appeared to be unharmed, someone had the nerve to draw a mustache on Fatemon's face.

"No." Fatemon answered and applied a short burst of terra archens to their bindings, watching it get reduced to ash and dust. "Something about this place doesn't sit right with me."

Chacha only snickered.

"I'm fairly certain every place we've gone does that." the robot remarked as some children nursery song began to play as their gaze suddenly focused on a doorway hanging on the far wall of the room. A large sign hung above it, like the sort you could find in amusement parks.

 **Our Story: The Coaster**

"I'm guessing we're throwing subtleness out the window." Chacha remarked and floated towards the doorway. "Not that we really ever had it in the first place."

They headed off, but not before they had made sure they still had everything. Who knows if they would be able to even come back here. Though, I'm not really sure why they would even want to do just that.

Inside, the room had been set up like one of those queues to a coaster. Unlike most coasters, there was no such line a person had to wait around in. This would be perfect, it said coaster was located in a far nicer place and actually gave you an idea of what to expect.

"Wonderful." Polly thought and took a deep breath. While she wasn't afraid of the ride, something about this place seemed off to her. But for the moment, she pushed that thought to the back of her mind and approached the queue. A coaster had already pulled up, as if someone had knew they would be coming. Or it was just a convenient fluke from a possibly automated system. Either way, they had the ride to themselves.

"Are you both ready?" Fatemon answered and sat himself down in the front car. Polly sat to his right, while Chacha sat to his left.

With them now seated, the bars came down and the wonderful announcer person gave their spiel.

"The Dark Blades ask that you keep your weapons out, bodies in the cars and most of all…" the announcer explained. "We really hope you three die by the end of this."

"Wonderful." Chacha responded and pulled her parasol out, letting it hang by her side.

"Could be worse." Aegiochusmon added and took a deep breath. "You could be trapped in some abandoned castle and be forced to remember what had happened."

The revamon didn't answer, choosing instead to focus her gaze on the dark tunnel ahead. Her two companion did the same, not at all noticing that the coaster had started. Though, the very leisurely pace of the ride could be at fault for that, with it seeming to slowly speed up as they exited the tunnel. Here, it had been styled sort of like 123 Sesame Street from Sesame Street. Strangely, one could quite clearly make out the park right by 456 Sesame Street.

"Incredible." Polly whispered and focused her gaze towards the ground, making out the usual assortment of characters from around that time. You know, Elmo, Big Bird, Oscar, Gro-

 **Parasol Blade!**

For some reason, Chacha flung her parasol at the Grover animatronic and watched it blow up.

"Chacha…" Fatemon whispered and stared towards the gyroid, giving her a cautious glare as the umbrella returned. "Why did you just do that?"

Chacha didn't answer, mumbling something about Grover being a sub-par version of Grorie.

"Who's Grorie?"

Offscreen, the author took a deep breath and flipped a coin. There wasn't a good way to explain it in-universe without an awkward author note either in the middle or the end of this particular chapter. So he decided on the former.

"I guess that's understandable… I think?" Polly remarked and focused her gaze on a small group of children. They seemed to determined to reach an object out in the distance, while a single boy watched on.

The object in question appeared to be a plate of generic candies. You know, the kind that they put in crane games because they won't melt under the heat or perhaps just have a long shelf life. Not that you really ever see anyone actually play those sort of games here in America.

But as they people reached these 'wonderful' treats and took their first 'wonderful' bites, they faded away as their friend just stood there. It was a cool scene, but seemed to be missing one or two fairly important details.

"So, why Sesame Street?" Polly whispered and looked towards her fiancee, who decided to just chuckle.

"If I had to hazard a guess," Fatemon answered. "Possibly nostalgia, heck they could still have all the VHS tapes from way back when."

"You guys used Sesame Street as part of these people training?"

"Indeed. Considering that you lit up when we entered this section, I suspect 'they' used the same methods on you."

With that, the ride headed onwards, passing through another dark tunnel.

They now found themselves in a pristine laboratory with four silvery white walls and a grayish white floor. The children from the previous section were standing here now, standing before nine figures dressed in cream-colored cloaks. For some reason, they had decided to leave their hoods down, so that the trio and the audience could see their faces for some reason. Though, such detail wouldn't really help you, since you don't really know what their head really look like.

"Okay then." Polly remarked as the cloaked figures motioned for the children to follow, which they did for some reason as the coaster headed on through a third dark tunnel.

On the other side of this one though, the trio was sprayed with some sort of mist within a still dark room. At first, everything seemed alright and normal, especially with the swirling color-changing 'aurora borealis' that the dark blades had set up. Though, Chacha had strangely decided to just stare all about, as if some figure kept darting just out of her view.

"I'm not sure what they expected to happen." she whispered and turned her attention to Polly and Fatemon. "Oh right, I'm a robot."

 **Vamptech.**

Greenish yellow energy quickly made it's way out of the two's bodies, making their way to Chacha's book.

"So maybe we're someone else's creation." Fatemon started as Polly watched on. "And said person also has their own OC-based universe. Does that we're theoretically better off her than in that place?"

The monk magi didn't answer, a glazed expression having come over her. Not that Fatemon really noticed, deciding to grab of his fiancee and lean in for a kiss.

 **Parasol Blade!**

Having found that her previous attack had no effect on the drugged lovebirds, Chacha went for the next best thing. Slamming her umbrella into them, taking great care to not knock either of them out in the process.

"Ow." the duo remarked and looked towards the gyroid. The pretty lights were gone now, with the ride making its way through another dark tunnel. One would think after spending hundreds of thousands of theoretical years stuck in the digital world they would have come up with a better way to sequence the transitions to this ride than just a bunch of dark tunnels.

They now found themselves in a makeshift 'infirmary', where the various children from the previous scenes were currently staying. They were currently being attended too by a group of hooded figures dressed in similar cloaks to those worn by the people shown earlier. That didn't explain why the woman at the front was dressed in some expensive pink suit made from the skin of some endangered and/or extinct species. A pair of matching heels hung on her feet, complimenting a matching picture-style hat and pair of gray-lensed sunglasses. Though, one could argue that the possibly sentient cloud of black smoke that seemed to swirl around her counterbalanced all that stuff.

Polly's gaze focused on the face of the statue, fear beginning to grip hold of her. Time seemed to freeze around her, with the animatronic seeming to now tower over her.

"Do you really think you're truly free of my control?" a voice announced as a pair of pale hands seemed to scooped her up and get lifted up into the air. "You are a fool. Maybe if you just get out of the car, maybe your parents will forgive you."

Something in the voice resonated within the monk magi, which resulted in her body thinning to an almost 2D state, just to get out of the car. Or would have, if not for a burst of Terra Archens to hit her. The voice seemed to fade away, leaving her facing Fatemon.

"It'll be alright, Polly." Fatemon whispered and wrapped his arms around her. "No matter what happens, no matter what dares to strike us down, even if we were somehow separated once more, I will be there for you. If nothing else, I can promise you that."

Polly didn't answer, choosing instead to embrace her fiancee.

 **Apókryfes Orgí** **(Arcane Wrath)!**

With that, he let go of his partner and shot out a ball of energy, watching it slam into the animatronic. In a way, a sense of relief seemed to come over the two. Yet, they knew in the back of their minds that they would need a better solution to this problem. But for now, this would do.

Thankfully, they passed through a tunnel and found themselves in a large cave. Luminous crystals lined the walls, allowing one to make out a pair of digimon. The one on the right was Piedmon, seeming slightly more sane than what most people would expect a guy who throws swords around and turns people into keychains.

Of course, the one on the left was a very familiar LadyDevimon. Unlike similar specimens of this species, she wasn't wearing the belt around her waist or the large claw thing meant for the left arm. Though, that could be due to the large digi-egg beside her. Strangely, the youngest 'girl' had her gaze focused on her, as if they knew their paths would cross again.

"So that's what happened." Chacha remarked, only for Fatemon to sigh.

"I'll give them credit." Fatemon added as he stared towards the dark angel digimon. "They had been told to resolve this conflict between the Dark Masters and the Order however they saw fit."

One dark tunnel transition later, they found themselves in a field of flames. The 'children' were amid, having possibly gone mad. Though, the oldest one had seemed to gone her own way.

As quickly as they arrived, they were hurtled through another tunnel. And another. And another. And another. Two more tunnels later, they had finally reached the end of their ride. Of course, the dark blades were there to greet them. Strangely, they had brought a tied-up Aaron with them.

"So, what did you people think?" one of them announced as the trio walked towards them. "Do you understand now why things turned out the way that they did?"

They did not answer and chose instead to just grab Aaron. Once that was done, they returned their attention to the dark blades.

"If silence is your answer, then you've made your choice." a dark blades member explained and they pulled their weapons out. "We had hoped that you wouldn't have come to this conclusion. A sha-"

This particular member didn't get to finish their sentence, since Polly had delivered a right hook to the face. This caused a light blue outline to form around the monk magi and her companions.

"Sis mea pars!"

 **Unity: πολεμικός τάφος (Watery Grave Inferno)!**

At first, the move started off in a similar fashion to seaside throw, with Polly flinging the entire group up into the air. While she did that, Fatemon engulfed her in a mix of arcane wrath and terra archens, watching as Polly's body seemed to expand at quite a rapid pace. Chacha finished the whole thing off, using astral perception to 'blow up' her partner's newfound growth. As an added bonus, there now was a large skylight for them to get out of this place.

"Come back here!" their former captors shouted and just watched on. "We'll get you for this!"

Yet, the trio did not answer, choosing to take Chacha back up. Right as a large 'bell' rang...

* * *

Notes:

Let's get the big one out of the way: Who is Grorie?

From 1974 - 2004, Sesame Street ran 'dubbed' on NHK in Japan. In October of that same year, the co-production Sesame Street (Japan) was rolled out, eventually ending its run at the end of September 2007. From what information I could gather, it wasn't that well received.

But back to the question at hand. Grorie is pretty much an orange version of Grover with eyelashes that got added in the show's second season. She would occasionally work at a restaurant, where she would wear a pink and white maid outfit.

456 Sesame Street and its surrounding buildings were part of 'Around the Corner' which was introduced in Season 25, only to be dropped in the 29th season of the show.

Finally, a lot of Sesame Street hasn't been released to be viewed after its initial run. Even then, it wasn't till the late eighties that they even started releasing episodes, staring off with the specials.

Other than that, this is not the chapter you would've originally gotten, believe it or not. Originally, it was going be a haunted house sort of place. Though, I really didn't like how it turned out. The only thing I kept from the original is the start and them walking to the doorway.

Overall, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. If you did, could you leave a review? It really does help.

.

Next time: A bell rings...


	70. A bell rings

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 70

A bell rings

* _Hello Everyone.*_

Following the bell ringing, Chacha continued to fly upwards.

"It's him." Fatemon whispered and took a deep breath. "Whatever he's going to say, I doubt either Chacha or I is going to like it."

"What do you mean?" Polly remarked, only for the harem mage to sigh and leaned in towards her. He then whispered something under his breath, just low enough that only she could possibly hear. "Of course."

 _*I am the Timekeeper, leader of the order.*_

Joey took a deep breath.

He stared down at his notes one more time, shoving them into the folder.

"Dad…" the shadow scientist thought and pulled his pocketwatch out, staring into it. For as little as he knew about the man who had taken him in, it was the difference that he had needed. "Why am I even thinking about him?"

Maybe it was the voice, bringing with it a sense of unease. It didn't matter what this person could possibly say, whether it be free cake for everyone or that the author would need to leave.

* _For the longest time, I have allowed this experiment to run without interference. But soon, that will change.*_

Alice stared at her pocketwatch.

After digging their way out of their prison, the gambler had broken away from Elena.

"Now, where is that bird?" she thought, ignoring the timekeeper's latest announcement in the background. If they had been alive, she would have been looking for Elena's 'stepparents', since she was certain the gale corsair's actual mother didn't speak a word of English. Though, that was going off the notes she had grabbed during that time she went on a rampage, almost fifty chapters ago.

"It's really been that long?" Alice thought, only for Suiko to sigh. "Dang. Time really does fly."

'Not really. It just seems that way.' Suiko answered as the gambler continued to scour the pages of the book. 'Technically we've only been gone a couple of days.'

"But we don't know what the time difference between here and the human world."

Suiko poked her head out, staring towards the gambler.

'When this is all said and done, do you think I'll still share a body with you?' the schoolgirl whispered and got no answer. 'Alice, are you alright?'

Alice didn't answer, choosing to take a deep breath. For so long the two had shared this body, making the thought of them going their separate both terrifying yet intriguing. Possibly, her parents had some sort of answer to that question. Though, that would mean tracking them down and getting through the mess. That, and to get Elena to ask a question.

'Earth to Alice. Earth to Alice…'

Alice's gaze focused upon Suiko, who was quite confused by her host's behavior.

"Sorry, I got lost in thought." Alice whispered and returned her attention back to the book. "Come forth from the void, Alkonost."

 _*Soon, I will reset everything and start over from scratch.*_

Olrumon sighed, cracking a smile afterwards.

There were many things the rabbit idol had never thought he would ever do. Helping some blonde haired guy deliver a baby was not on the list, but possibly should've been.

"It's a boy, Miss…" he started only for the 'man' to laugh.

"Ichijouji." the man whispered as Olrumon handed over the baby. "Have you thought of a name yet?"

The woman didn't answer, seeming to be lost in thought. For a few brief seconds, she closed her eyes and lost herself in thought.

"So, what's your story?" the man inquired, his gaze focusing in on Olrumon.

"I rather not talk about it." Olrumon answered and focused his gaze on the boy. "Unless, you want to talk about yours."

He had expected the person to raise a fit, or go for the gun on his waist. But instead, he just chuckled.

"I can understand that." the man responded and returned his attention to the woman. "It's crazy how life can so suddenly change. One moment, you're the anarchist intent on breaking everything apart. The next, you and a rabbit are delivering a baby for your best friend's wife."

Olrumon gave him a nod, sort of agreeing with him.

 _*But I'm an honest man. As such, you have to do something for me.*_

Of all the people Consligmon could run into, he had managed to run into her of all people.

"I'm sorry, your majesty." the spy turkey whispered and stared towards the person. "It was an accident."

The person did not answer, choosing to point a gun towards the two digimon. They then fired off a shot, only to have it returned with a short burst of Yokozamon's minigun.

"Now, can we talk this out?" Consligmon inquired, only to take a bullet to the chest. While not the worst thing that in the world, it was high up on that list. "I guess not."

All he had wanted to do was just apologize for that stray bullet all that time ago.

 _*Defeat my order and I might have an audience with all of you.*_

Malo Mart.

Of all the songs that could be stuck in Officer EMT's head at the moment, it had to be this one.

"Could be worse." the troll mecha thought and deactivated his mecha, letting it fold into a single piece of cardboard on his back. "Now… Let's see."

He gave his list a quick glance, making sure he read his list right. He hoped that he could get everything here, or at least the essentials. He had grown so used to travelling alone, making being part of a large group a new experience for him. But he was fine with that.

"How can I help you?" the clerk, som girl dressed in a questionable purple outfit.

"I need enough food, water, bullets, shotgun shells and alchemy ingredients for a party of fifteen."

The girl gave him a confused look and got up, motioning for the troll to follow. The made their way towards the back of the store, eventually finding themselves in the storage room.

"Bulk?" the girl cheerfully inquired and EMT took a deep breath.

"Yes." he whispered and kept his focus on the girl. "My vehicle is out back."

The girl gave a nod and began to run around the area, bringing with her pallets of all kinds as EMT watched on. While the timekeeper was on his mind, something about the guy didn't really scare him. In his book, it was just another day in the digitalverse. He wouldn't have it any other way.

 _*In a way, you're already started, having brought down two of the twelve.*_

Elena took a deep breath.

While Alice was off doing whatever she was doing, she had managed to round up Joey and their digimon. Though, she wasn't quite certain why they didn't attempt some form of escape. All of them had some sort of move that allowed them to theoretically dig through the earth and create a rudimentary tunnel. Heck, it didn't even look like their captors actually patrolled this block of cells.

"Are you alright, Elena?" Joey inquired, only to be ignored by the gale corsair. "This isn't like y-"  
Before he could finish his sentence, Elena switched forms and swung her tail towards him. The shadow scientist ducked, watching as the barbs got themselves stuck in a nearby wall.

"My girlfriend is off who knows where, we don't know Polly, Aaron and most of our digimon are and the timekeeper is back! Of course, I'm totally alright!"

Joey took a deep breath and decided not losing his head was the best idea at the moment.

"That was rude of me." he whispered and watched Elena switch forms once more. "But that doesn't mean that you can just lash out of me."  
The gale corsair didn't answer and focused her gaze towards the ground, just about ready to cry.

"Is something wrong, Miss Elena?" Gentleman whispered as Elena took a deep breath, focusing her gaze towards the gentlemon. "Miss Elena?"

"I can do this." the gale corsair whispered and watched as Alice and her digimon walked up to her. Strangely, Alice looked like an absolute mess, having been pecked all about with a variety of feathers in her hair. Yet, to Elena, that did not matter. She ran up to the lucky gambler, only to find herself running in place.

"You need to calm down." Alice whispered and looked towards her partner. "I'm sorry I freaked you out, but you can't act that way. Especially if you want things to go further."

Elena reluctantly nodded, seeming to understand whatever Alice had said. Joey just watched on, unsure of how to react to all of this. While he knew the two girls were in a relationship, he wasn't quite sure what Alice meant by taking the next step. Though, something about it told him he didn't really want to know.

Almost on cue, Aaron walked up. Like Alice, he looked like an absolute wreck. His coat was covered in a mix of dust, soot and oil along with a sense of fatigue

"They're fighting." the mending detective whispered as their gazes focused on him. "Polly and Fatemon..."

 _*Good luck, chosen! You're going to need it!*_

With that, the bell ceased its ringing.

* * *

Notes:

Well this is a mess. Sort of like my week at the time of writing, kinda.

Though, the endgame has now begun. Even if JAFRS EX isn't quite ready yet.

.

Next Time: What needs to be done...


	71. Little Steps Forward

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 71

Little Steps Forward

If you had asked Polly what she saw herself doing almost two years ago, she probably would've answered mixed martial artist or perhaps something sports related.

Ask her a year after that, she would've said an adventurer, maybe a novelist.

But now, as she stared her partner no, future husband in the eye, she wasn't quite sure now. Maybe she would stay an adventurer, traveling about this world, Or perhaps she would go down her original path and continue her martial arts training. If she really wanted to be ambitious, maybe go back to Mahora with Fatemon, spruce up the place and become a teacher.

But for now, she would need to focus on the situation at hand.

"Are you ready?" Fatemon called out and two focused on each other. Polly gave him a nod and charged forth, deciding to go with left hook. Fatemon countered with a block, following it up with an uppercut. While it missed, it caught Polly off guard.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

 **Arcane Wrath!**

Fatemon shot out a sphere of magical energy, only to watch Polly spike it back.

"I guessed I trained you too well." Fatemon whispered as he sidestepped his opponent's flurry of punches. "Oh well."

The harem mage responded with a kick to the chest and a swipe towards the stomach, only to get a kick to the balls as a result.

"You're not too bad yourself." Polly answered and swung her left fist, possibly going for a cross or maybe an uppercut. But no, she went for a grab, suplexing Fatemon.

 **Pylónes tou Ádi (Pillars of Hades)!**

The harem mage broke free of the grab, summoning forth a pillar and gave it a slight punch. Of course, he stepped away as it began to fall, forcing Polly to deal with it.

 **Seaside Throw!**

The monk magi decided flinging the structure back, bit by bit, was the best option. Which, meant doing a variety of punching and throwing at the thing while it was still falling. Yet, she managed to pull it off. Though, Fatemon had created quite a gap for them.

Polly took a deep breath and sighed. Sooner or later, she would reach him and the fight would continue on. They were both evenly matched, combat-wise, making it more of a battle of stamina and endurance than anything else.

"Is that everything you got?" Fatemon called out, with Polly refocusing her gaze on him. She took a deep breath and concentrated, making out a small puddle not that far from her opponent. "Oh crap."

Polly then disappeared, only to appear seconds later to uppercut the harem mage.

"You're holding back." she muttered and unleashed a flurry of punches in Fatemon's direction, watching him attempt to keep up. He somehow managed to do just that, as the level of excitement between the two seemed to drop. "This is pointless. Couldn't you have thought this through a tiny bit more?"

Fatemon took a deep breath, only to sigh. In retrospect, he knew he should've given her at least some time to prepare before starting the battle off.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

But before he could even voice any of those concerns, Polly landed a right hook to his face.

"You cheated." Fatemon whispered as he charged up for Terra Archens. "For a second there, I actually did think you were telling the truth."

The two laughed, only for a shot to ring out.

"I guess they're here." Polly remarked as she watched her teammates and their digimon arrive. Strangely, Officer EMT was leading up the rear for once and Chacha wasn't with them.

"There you are." Elena shouted and pulled her kris out, taking a series of short deep breaths in the process. "Care to explain what is even going on?"

Both Polly and Fatemon sighed and did a quick round or two of rock paper scissors. Eventually, it was the monk magi that came out on top, leaving the honor to Fatemon.

"Basically, Polly and I were fighting till I'm 'defeated'." Fatemon whispered. "For now, you people can just go to the armored vehicle."

 **Toxic Claws!**

Somehow, Adarnamon did not get that message and manage to deliver a dose of some form of toxic liquid to the harem mage.

"Sorry." Adarnamon whispered and flew over to her master, who only took a deep breath. "We'll leave you people be."

With that, they made their way towards the armored vehicle as Polly and Fatemon watched on.

"They're an interesting bunch." Fatemon whispered as Polly swung her fists towards him. "Shame that they all had to be dragged into the conflict one way or another."

The monk magi looked at him with a mix of confusion and curiosity. Yet, she decided to continue with watery grave punch.

"In any other story," Fatemon continued. "We wouldn't have to do this. We could just talk it out like normal civilized people and come to a possible solution that would work out for both parties. But this place is not that kind of world. We both know that best."

Polly gave a nod, only for Fatemon to kick at her legs. She responded with a headbutt and seemed to knock her partner back a few feet.

"Soon, they will have to do the same. And unlike us, they won't go easy on them."

That was what it all came down to. Whether or not Delta could defeat those that chose to screw them over one way or another. It was just another test, a way to gauge how far they had come along this road in order to reach this supposed heaven. Or perhaps, it was just a way for the timekeeper to clean shop for some reason.

Whatever the reason may have possibly been didn't matter to either of them, continuing to brawl. Though, I doubt it would have really changed anything if they did. The poison had finally taken effect, seeming to bring forth a slight pain to the harem mage. Yet, it did little to slow him down, possibly giving him even more of a reason to keep this going. Polly on the other hand, just wanted to be done. Her body felt like it was going to blow, not that it would really do much other than cause her body to be split apart all over the place.

 **Watery Grave Punch!**

Polly slammed her fist into Fatemon's chest, only to watch her body congeal into a pile of light blue goop.

"I'm sorry, Fatemon." she whispered and attempted to pull herself back together. Only for a slow clap to break her concentration.

"That was totally worth not counting you and Chacha as defeated." a voice announced as a ten year old british kid floated down and flung

"You have to the count of three, timekeeper." Fatemon snarled as their opponent just laughed. "If you aren't out of my sight by then, your 'toy' will be mincemeat."

"Is that so?" the timekeeper taunted.

"One…" Fatemon announced.

"I would like to see you try."

Polly managed to pull herself back together and made her way over to Chacha.

"Two..." Fatemon whispered and stepped towards his partners, grabbing hold of them as he did.

"Go ahead and try, I dare you!"

"Three."

 **Unity: Watery Grave Explosion!**

For some reason, the final boss of this mess decided standin still was the best strategy as the trio performed their special technique. There wasn't any variation to the last use, other than a slightly smaller explosion and it managing to strip a 'little bit' off the timekeeper.

"I'll let you people live, for now." he announced and teleported away, just as Fatemon and Chacha collapsed to the ground. "I guess that means you bozos have defeated four members of the order. Good job… not."

Polly took a deep breath and grabbed hold of both her digimon, pulling them towards EMT's armored vehicle. A grayish blue sky hung overhead, lit up by the light of the digital world's sole moon. As she pulled, her mind wandered back to the question at the start of this chapter. She both understood yet at the same time unclear at where she wanted to take things. At any time, she and Fatemon could have their wedding, though the question of getting a marriage license meant having to face her parents one more time. And while she had a better understanding of what they had done, it didn't make it any easier.

Yet, she was fine with that. Little steps were always better than taking no steps forward on this road of life...

* * *

Notes:

Yeah, this chapter is a little bit of a mess.

Chacha's fight will be covered in a future chapter of AWC.

I'm going to temporarily switch gears and work on some side projects, if you guys don't mind.

.

Next Time: Delta makes a plan. It's a lot better than it sounds.


	72. Plan of action

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 72

Plan of action

It was about an hour since Polly had dragged her partners to the EMT's armored vehicle.

While they were still waiting, the members of Delta took the time to do a bit of housekeeping.

For Elena, that meant sharpening her kris followed by looking over a dress catalog that Lily had for some reason.

"No, not that one." she remarked and flipped the page, staring over the illustrations. "While they all look nice, I can't really see myself in any of these."

It felt odd to the gale corsair to be doing something like this. She had grown kind of used to her single outfit, with the idea of said clothes getting washed and or wearing a similar set out of the question.

"Do you want to look at it, Alice?" Elena inquired and turned her attention to her girlfriend, who was currently cleaning her pistols.

"Not really." Alice remarked and turned to face Elena. "I'm guessing you're having trouble deciding?"

The gale corsair nodded, only for the lucky gambler to sigh.

"I'm not really sure which one would look good on me." Elena answered as she got a confused glance from Alice. "I'm kind of used to just wearing my sundress all the time."

An awkward silence fell over the two, neither quite willing enough to break through at the moment. While both sort of understood the point of what Alice had in mind, they were at totally different levels of understanding. To Elena, this was a cementing of their bond, that nothing could possibly bring it down.

But to Alice, there was more to this act. It was a rebellion, a sign that her parents could neither predict nor control. To put it simply, she wanted a sense of power over them. But at the same time, she saw it in a similar light to Elena.

"Just take your time, okay?" Alice finally answered and watched Elena's face brighten up a tiny bit. "This isn't something you can really rush."

"Thanks." Elena whispered and returned her attention to the magazine, only to watch Polly walk up. "Do you want to look at it, Polly?"

The monk magi didn't answer, choosing instead to just nod and watched Elena hand it over.

"Thank you." Polly whispered and headed off, making her way towards the back. There, Fatemon and Chacha laid in silent slumber. "Please wake up soon."

Polly sat herself and began to leaf through the magazine, occasionally making a glance up towards her digimon. Her mind was currently focused on what the timekeeper had said to them.

"I'll let you live for now." the monk magi muttered as she continued her routine. While normally, she would let that sort of chatter get to her, there was something different this time. Maybe it was the result of some that gas still being in her body, or just a recollection of memories thought long forgotten.

Her eyelids grew heavy as slumber took her in. Her mind wandered to the 'before', attempting to piece it together in her mind. But all she ever got was a black and white montage of rapidly moving photos, coming in at a speed that most creatures could barely comprehend let alone observe turn into a pile of blank puzzle pieces. Even if one could possibly slow this all down and actually take it all in, they probably just find a bunch of blank polaroids that suddenly turned into a pile of almost translucent blank puzzle pieces. Though,

Yet, Polly tried to make some sense of it. Almost all the pieces had been laid out for her, ready to put it back together once more.

"That goes here and this piece goes there." the monk magi thought in her dream, connecting the two 'puzzle pieces' together. But just as it seemed progress had been made, the pieces uncoupled and headed in opposing directions. So, she tried it with two different pieces, hoping that this time it would work. All to get the same result. Yet, she kept trying, attempting all sorts of various combinations. But try as she might, nothing seemed to fit together.

"Wond-"

Before Polly could finish her thought, she felt something 'collide' with her head, forcing eyes back open.

She stared upwards, finding Aegiochusmon standing over her.

"Good, you're awake." the harem mage whispered and watched his fiance slowly get up. "Elena wanted everyone to gather at the front."

Polly gave him a slight nod and the two made their way towards the cockpit of the vehicle, passing through the area without a peep from either of them. Instead, they focused on what had been left 'behind', mostly to clear their heads for the moment. Or would have, if somebody had actually left something for them to examine. The grinding wheels were all turned off and all the gun cleaning supplies had put in their proper spots. They had even swept up any potential scrap that could be tripped on by either the monk magi or the harem mage.

"Good, we're all here." Elena announced and watched as the duo sat themselves down. "Our meeting can now begin."

They then turned their attention to the gale corsair, who currently had a piece of paper in her hands.

Members of the order

The Timekeeper

Chacha

Aegiochusmon/Fatemon

It was a start, even if there were more than three members of the order.

"It's a start." Aegiochusmon whispered and held his hand out, watching Elena hand over the pen and paper.

4\. Devi

5\. The Gostelows (x2)

6\. Julie Enoshima

Polly stared towards the paper and took a deep breath. While she didn't recognize the fourth name, the fifth and six were as clear as day. Sooner or later, they would have to go after them. If was the sort of thing that seemed unreal, especially after that coaster ride. But for the moment, she said nothing as the pen and paper were handed over to Joey.

7\. My Dad

8\. That cloud thing?

"He never really gave me an actual name to go off of." the shadow scientist explained and handed the paper back to Elena. Strangely, she gave the 'gift' over to Alice.

8\. Despair

9\. The Tanaka's (x2)

10\. That cactus thing

11\. ?

The group turned their attention to Aaron, who was currently copying down the list just in case.

"Hmm…" the mending detective remarked as he gave the list one more look. "I'm not really sure what you even want me to say."

Yet, he still made his contribution.

4\. Devi

5\. The Gostelows (Adrian and Lauren)

6\. Julie Enoshima

7\. My Dad ('Izzy Izumi')

8\. Despair

9\. The Tanaka's (Verena and Gabe)

10\. That cactus thing

11\. Cora Desaet

Strangely, everyone expected Jestery to pop in and do something. Yet, the jester didn't take advantage of the opportunity, choosing instead to just

"So who should we go after first?" Officer EMT inquired and pulled a map out. It was probably inaccurate, not that would really matter in the grand scheme of things. There's already enough of a mess in this dimension alone. "They did something stupid, didn't they?"

The author did not answer, but the troll mecha sighed anyway. For now, he would have to leave that potential problem on the backburner and return their attention to the map, which was currently showing the island of Forum. In retrospect, I probably could have come up with a slightly better name. Not that it really matters right now, since it rarely gets mentioned to begin with…

As the author continued to babble on, Alice made a mark on the map. It was a x, located in the forest area just north of their first camp.

"This is the closest place that we know that has an Order member." the gambler whispered and took a deep breath. "If nothing else, we can use it as a chance to find out the location of any other Order members."

Everyone nodded in agreement as Elena held her hand out.

"If we're all in agreement, put your hand out and say 'Aye'." the gale corsair explained. "Aye."

"Aye." Adarnamon added and placed her left wing beside her master's hand. Lily did the same, choosing to go to the right of Elena's hand.

"Aye." Alice whispered and held her hand out, grabbing hold of the gale corsair's.

'Aye!' Suiko shouted and joined the group.

"Aye." Gobblemon remarked and extended a wing towards the circle as Yokozamon did the same with a hoof.

"Aye, I guess." Joey whispered and held his hand out, watching his digimon do the same.

"Aye?" Polly added and held her hand out, only to turn her attention to Fatemon. Strangely, the harem mage just whispered his response and held his hand out. Chacha did the same, leaving Aaron and his partner the odd ones out.

"Aye." the three remarked as the last hands entered the circle. For a few brief moments, silence engulfed the armored vehicle.

For once in what seemed like forever, they weren't running around in the hope that something interesting would happen. No, they had a plan. While it was more of a goal, it was a start.

"Now that we've decided on that, let's go!" Elena announced and watched Officer EMT crack a smile.

"You heard the lady." the troll mecha pilot added as he made his way over to the cockpit. "It's going to be a short ride, so it is best to get some sleep and anything other preparations done in the meantime."

A minute or two later, they quickly made their way out of the dark blades compound and back into the endless wilds of the digital world...

* * *

Notes:

Not going to lie, this is kind of a mess. Yet, I kind of like how it turned out.

Since I have another internship starting up next week at the time of this chapter, it will probably be some time in august that the next chapter will come out.

.

Next Time: Let us return to Despair High once more.


	73. A Nostalgic Storytime

I still don't own digimon.

* * *

 _Butterflies, that is what we all are. We enter the world, growing up from caterpillars into butterflies. We then migrate from home, mate with other butterflies and die once we reach our home. And the cycle repeats itself. -Victoria, DA03_

* * *

Session 73

A Nostalgic Storytime

Victoria Arcana was many things.

'People person' was not on that list. Mind you, she had her preferences in who could really be with her for extended periods of time, but preferred to spend her time

One of those people was Kuro Neko, the catgirl priestess of shadows. Currently, the two were camped just outside of the forest-desert divide and were currently awaiting the arrival of their partners. Night had already fallen, signalling the end of another day in this madhouse.

"What time is it, nya?" Kuro remarked and watched Victoria pull her pocket watch out and give it a quick glance.

"It's a couple minutes to nine." the black cat whispered and watched her friend lay down beside her. "It's best we both get some rest, sooner or later."

"Could you least tell me a story?"

Victoria took a deep breath and sighed.

"Fine." she whispered and gazed down to her friend. "Our story begins a long time ago in a place called Odiaba..."

It was an early day in January for the coastal city. There, three kids (a blonde, a brunette and a redhead), had been tasked with catching a 'black cat'. What exactly this cat had done to require them to chase it weren't really known, not that it really mattered to them at the time. They were probably more focused on other things like what was for dinner or what can I do to make the brunette actually interested in them. But I digress.

Once they had finally caught up with their target, they unleashed their digimon upon it in the typical 'let us pretend we are tanks' mentality that really shouldn't work in this franchise.

Of course, the cat had her own tricks up her paws, turning into a Lilithmon variant and destroying the 'mystical gate of destiny'. But not before saying hi to her ex. After all, such opportunities should not go unwasted.

After that, some voice invaded the girl's head as their digimon were defeated. As such, the black cat got the redheaded boy.

Fast forward a couple years and a kidnapping later, we find the digidestined holding a funeral for someone. Possibly, for the thought to be dead redhead. Nearly everyone that mattered at the time (pre-tri) was there, ready to give their eulogies for this poor soul. Yet, that was not what happened that early morning. Instead of saying goodbye, they found themselves saying hello to the redhead, who not only was still alive, had gained a magical girl assistant to boot.

What followed, was another battle and the possible death of the digidestined of love, who was actually a clone of said digidestined. The only other important thing of note was the digidestined of knowledge attempting to file a complaint. It didn't go too well.

But not everyone took part in that battle, for a raven-haired boy had decided that he would just head home. He probably made the best choice out of all them, having spared his own partner's ass from getting kicked. His reward was a flash drive filled with text documents, telling a tale of conquest and betrayal. So, this digidestined took a nap instead. Though, all he got was some weird dream flashback and a visit from the 'digimon emperor'.

Meanwhile in the digital world, trouble was brewing at a digidestined base. A small group of thugs going by the name 'the dark blades' had decided that storming the base for something they might of have was the best thing to do at the moment. So they did just that, tearing up the place in the process and release some weird plant anthro. All so that they could get their 'digivices' back.

Back with the blonde and brunette, things were going alright. Well, except for the 'vision' that the brunette had temporarily found herself in. Thankfully, all it took was a new message on her d-terminal to snap the digidestined of light out of her 'trance' in conjunction with a stray bullet.

She then joined the blonde in the living room, which was totally unlike her bedroom.

At the time, their digimon partners had been watching a show about a blonde dude with a ponytail taking on some sort of lion creature. Strangely, they all thought this blonde hair dude sounded a lot like the raven haired dude. It was probably a coincidence though.

They then headed out, only to run into Redhead, his partners and the black cat from before. What followed was a wonderful conversation between the blonde and the feline, resulting in the boy temporarily losing an important organ. Once that was out of the way, the group reluctantly headed outside where the media awaited with question about the pink haired girl. Thankfully, another gunshot ran out and some girl claiming to be the pink-haired girl's cousin. Along with that, she was also a 'digidestined', with a digimon capable of mega digivolution no less. Though, it was through a magical tattoo made from some kind of digivolution data along with being the sole one. Which this idiot used in this one encounter.

It wasn't all bad, with the digidestined of knowledge and reliability getting his partner to the ultimate form finally. Oh, and the black cat turned into some sort of purple lolita girl and that she had everyone's favorite female fallen angel digimon.

And so, the group headed onwards to the train station. There, the lolita girl and the brunette did some 'bonding'. Which involved throwing the brunette on the train tracks and attempting to get brunette to shoot lolita girl. They then got on a train, only for it to be attacked by a anthro robot biyomon creature thing. Another fight happened and the out of place conductor asked for lolita girl's name. She gave it and they headed onwards, quickly reaching Tamachi. There, lolita girl might have temporarily lost her soul on the way to raven haired boy apartment.

At the apartment, lolita girl proceeded to kill some hawk creature twice, only to follow it up by stabbing the raven haired boy. In her defense, she did technically promise to do such an act the next time their paths crossed. They then had a nice meeting, where the blonde guy revealed himself to be evil and stuff and pulled a switchblade. It wasn't quite as effective or menacing as his handgun.

One battle and a pair of gained evolutions later, the threat was vanquished and our heroes split up into three groups.

Meanwhile back in Odiaba, evil blonde was meeting up with a member of royalty in an airship. An empress, no less. That wanted to sell mind-controling fruit juice at a stand for some reason.

Below, some blue haired guy was examining a body while talking to a spiky haired dude. After this enlightening conversation, spiky haired dude and his digimon headed outside. There, they managed to resist tasting the mind control juice, only to run into a mysterious person and their digimon partner. Then evil blonde showed up riding on top of a tank and an airship fell out of the sky. It killed the blue haired boy, but not spiky dude or mysterious person. In all seriousness, that was the only casualty of the entire battle.

Afterwards, they went to the digital world as a group people travelled back in time for no particular reason. Possibly, they were heading after the empress, which begs the question of what method that this person used to get herself over. But I digress, again.

Our focus then turns to an unimportant boy, who managed to run into the time travellers. Another fight then occurred, though one could argue it was more of an excuse to show off the various combat abilities of these sudden arrivals. Afterwards, they too went to the digital world.

In said digital world, the leader of the digidestined had gotten a phone call telling him to go to a particular place. So, he did just that, somehow making his way to File Island with his digimon.  
There, some douchebag spouted on about some stuff about being a part of some other digidestined group that came before the leader's. Also, the gang of thugs were there for some reason. What followed, was an eating contest and philosophical rambling about one's existence. It was the sort of combination that would make one wonder if they were even in the right fic. Afterwards, the leader opened a portal for the thugs to reach the human world. There, they broke up a protest and got a present from a friend along with a new member to boot.

Back in Odiaba, the empress's goons were playing a game of chess while evil blonde attempted to get them to beat up people up. For his trouble, a trio of succubi attacked the group, forcing them to actually do something other than chess. Once that was done, two possibilities occur. The first involves one of the succubus joining the empress group, bringing with her a mystical book known as 'the digital tome' along with a bunch of new weapons for them. Along with that, empress gets an unsigned message showing her the bodies of the time travelers getting impaled on spikes. Afterwards, they head to the succubus's master and beat the crap out of him. Once that was done, they became the third group in the digital world.

The second possibility was them managing to beat the succubi up and empress getting a message on her pda thing. Unlike the message in the first possibility, the sender gave a name: ?BugInFFnet. For some reason, this person wanted empress to choose between good and evil. After taking some time to consider both options, empress chose anti-hero. While not quite an option for the question, the person accepted it and told them to beat up some smart dude for some reason. So they did just that, getting rewarded with a sense of deja vu and a just barely prevented time paradox. Somehow, both of these outcomes are simultaneously canon.

Back with spiky dude and mysterious figure, things were going alright. Mysterious figure revealed that she was actually female redhead from another timeline dimension thing who got saved by lolita girl from a bunch of people in charge of keeping the timeline 'together'.

Afterwards, she allowed spiky dude to get eaten by the clockwork bird thing.

Back in the real world, some woman appeared with her digimon partner. Though, one could argue that it was just some random naked woman running around for some reason. For some reason, they were taking on some weird clown girl.  
As this happens, brunette and lolita girl made their way to the train station, getting into another fight in the process. In this case, a boss rush for some reason along with a character the author didn't own at the time. So they took each threat on, making sure to give it their all. All the while dealing with brunette's sudden transformation into pink catgirl priestess thing and lolita girl temporarily turning into a pile of sentient goop. Once that was over, they hopped on a train and headed back to Odiaba.

In the digital world, redhead and unimportant boy were dead, having fallen at the hand of redhead's magical girl thing. Which left, the raven haired boy and his magenta haired girlfriend in some weird battle royale tea party. That involved the emperor from before and the girlfriend getting transformed for some reason. Then a sextape happened for some reason. Yeah, I don't really know either.

All of this, bringing us back to Odiaba one final time with lolita girl and catgirl. There, lolita girl opened up a little bit while 'butterfly' played. Yet, once the curtain fell, it was time for the two to part.

Afterwards, lolita girl found a pair of girls, giving her D-3 to them. Not that long after, the world 'reset' and our story ends. But to call it that would be ignoring what came after, the stories that followed. For the end is just a period for the next story to begin.

.

"Are you happy now?" Victoria whispered and gazed down at her friend, who had fallen asleep partway through. "I guess so."

She took a deep breath, only to catch a trace of orange and blue.

"Jestery, show yourself." the black cat added and watched her daughter teleport over. Compared to her previous appearance, a sense of joy and seemingly oblivious happiness seemed to hang over her once more. Yet, she still paraded around in her bloody outfit. "This is about Cora, isn't it?"

Jestery did not answer, choosing instead to sit down beside her mother.

"Maybe…" Jestery whispered and stared down towards her lap. "I did something that needed to be done, but I feel hollow now."

Victoria looked her daughter over and took a deep breath afterwards.

"Sorrow." she whispered and focused her gaze on the jester. "That is what you're feeling."

But all she got from Jestery was a confused expression. Not that Victoria could really blame her, especially after making the choice that she did.

"Is Cora alright, at least?"

"Jestery made sure to leave Cora in a state that she could recover from." Jestery remarked as she pulled herself up. "Would momma kitty mind if Jestery asked a question?"

Victoria gave a nod and watched Jestery perk up.

"Why is momma kitty all the way out here? The only thing out in this direction is that 'high school'."

The black cat proceeded to sigh, only to wrap her arms around Jestery. Jestery did the same, embracing each other in a short yet effective hug.

"I have some long unsettled business in there." she whispered and focused on the divide between the forest and the desert. "If I don't do it now, I doubt I'll ever quite get this sort of chance again."

Jestery didn't answer, only giving a slight nod as Victoria watched her teleport away. She proceeded to return her gaze to the divide, just making out a pair of figures getting chased by what appeared to be a large vehicle.

"Figures." the black cat whispered and stood back up. "I guess my night isn't anywhere near being over quite yet…"

* * *

Notes:

At the time of this chapter coming out, the digitalverse will have been going for three years. Kind of crazy to just think about. What better way to celebrate that accomplishment than to do a recap in Digital Adventures Online? Outside of a version will less errors that could be canon to Tri, maybe once Tri finishes up.

Other than that, I hope you enjoyed this!

Next Time: The cat and the troll, sparks are going to fly...


	74. That one moment

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 74

That one moment

Of all the things Officer EMT did on a daily basis, driving was something he both loved and hated.

Sure, it let him meet all sorts of unique people to swap stories with while travelling to a variety of wonderful places. But at the same time, it sometimes meant dealing with unplanned annoyances or rude people.

"Get a move on!" the troll shouted and honked his horn. "I am a troll on a mission!"

 **Nightmare Wing!**

A cloud of bats made their way towards the vehicle, only to be repelled with a flare the troll police officer threw.

"Oh, it's you, Mr Buzzkill." a voice remarked as Officer EMT got out and lit another flare. "I hope we weren't doing anything inappropriate in your view."

EMT only sighed, suddenly finding himself a decade back and in a much simpler world. There were no alternate timelines, very little dead bodies and a sense of indifference to the opinions of others. It was a weird, yet quite wonderful time to be in such a place. The troll police officer had been on the 'job' at that particular moment, which in this case meant delivering a clone of someone from a universe that had 'existed' for a time. He had just dropped that person off and was currently waiting in an apartment hallway. While not his preferred place for waiting, it would do for the moment.

"The meeting is for people that actually are trustworthy." a voice further down the hallway announced, with Officer EMT deciding to slowly make his way towards this person. He wasn't sure why he decided that was the best action at time, but he was glad that he had. Strangely, this was then followed by a loud, almost ear-shattering scream.

"That feels quite appropriate for you." a different voice announced and followed it up with a snicker. "I just ruined a shipping! I ruined a shipping!"

By that point, Officer EMT was close enough to actually see what had happened and charged right in, quickly finding himself standing before a group of people and a black cat thing. For some reason, the cat was jumping up and down in joy.

"What did you just do to him?" a girl accused as she and some unimportant boy looked towards the cat.

"That's my secret dick-cutting technique." the cat remarked and somehow resisted the urge to hold the organ for everyone to see. "It shuts up all the fanboys and fangirls that like you two for some reason."

The girl then stared at the cat, unsure of how to really answer that.

"And when did you learn that?" a boy announced, only for the cat to just ignore him.

"Time is a funny thing, my friend." the cat explained as Officer EMT set his siren on and charged in, grabbing hold of the feline in the process. "I'm guessing you're here to ruin my fun, Mr Buzzkill?"

The troll did not answer choosing instead to face his prisoner towards him.

"Black cat, you are under arrest for the attempted destruction of a shipping!" he explained and watched the cat just stare at him. "As punishment, I shall confiscate your pudding cup and spoon."

Both cop and prisoner stared at each for a couple of seconds, not really sure of how to continue this conversation.

"Whatever." the cat answered and Officer EMT casually set it down.

"Do not think this will be the last time you'll see of me." the troll announced and retreated via smoke grenade.

The troll police officer faded back into reality, where a pale skinned humanoid and a catgirl belly dancer now stood. Strangely, the humanoid was dressed in a stolen green sundress and sandals. The catgirl belly dancer on the other hand was dressed in just a red strapless tube top with a pair of matching harem pants.

"Care to give me your names?" Officer EMT remarked and switched from his launcher to his kukri.

"Possibly." the humanoid remarked as a ball of bats formed in her hands. "How about… no?"

"Wrong answer." EMT whispered and switched forms. "If you won't talk, I'll make you."

"I would like to see you try." a voice announced as a familiar girl approached. "LadyDevimon, Bastemon head to camp. I'll deal with Mr Buzzkill here."

The two figures from before then led, leaving just the girl and Officer EMT.

 **BlackGatomon overdrive digivolve too… Selenemon!**

In place of the girl, now stood a woman in her mid twenties. She was dressed in a purple gown that had been decorated with purple ribbon and silver crescent moons. Her jet black hair reached down towards

"I'm impressed. Most people I seem to meet rarely seem to last much more than a couple days."

Officer EMT chuckled and followed it up with a deep breath.

"So it was you then." the troll mecha remarked. "At the very least, you could tell me who you actually are."

His opponent gave him a confused glance and laughed.

"You've already forgotten?" Selenemon remarked, following it up with a sigh. "I'm Victoria, that girl who confronted you people at the dark blade's plantation."  
Officer EMT glanced towards her and attempted to recall what had happened earlier in the day. While he sort of remembered that meeting, it had gotten swirled within the mess that had been the day up to that point.

"Sorry about that." the troll whispered and cracked a smile. "I guess we can fight it out, just for the hell it?"

"Sure." Victoria whispered and charged towards EMT.

 **Moon Inferno!**

Purple flames shot forth from the super ultimate's blades, homing in on the troll mecha.

 **Justice Shield!**

A table then appeared in front of Officer EMT, somehow managing to block out the projectiles.

 **Table Flip!**

Having now found himself with a slightly burnt table, Officer EMT flung it in Victoria's direction.

 **Moon Inferno Slash!**

Of course, Victoria responded by just slashing the piece of furniture into a million pieces.

 **Butterfly Knife Rain!**

The super ultimate then slammed her hands against ground and watched butterflies flutter around her opponent. Only for said butterflies to turn into knives and fall at a much faster speed.

 **Justice Shield!**

Once more, Officer EMT made a table appear. This time, the shield managed to hold back the knives, only to have it break apart in his hands.

 **Finale!**

The troll mecha then charged forth, slamming his fist into Selenemon. He then followed it up by throwing a table with a lit explosive on it and giving a series of punches and kicks. All of which culminated in a small explosion, that did seem to do much to Victoria.

 **Priestess Arrow!**

An arrow flew through the trees, forcing both of them to duck.

"Sorry about that." Victoria whispered as they both 'reverted' back to their regular forms. "I guess we'll call this a draw?"

"Agreed." Officer EMT remarked and took a deep breath. "Would you mind if I asked you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Whatever happened to those people you were with all those years ago?"

The black cat did not answer, choosing instead to swing at the troll police officer. Thankfully, the officer countered with his kukri.

"Why does that matter to you? Why do you even care about five people who had their dreams ripped away when they should be alive?!"

Victoria's movements began to become erratic, but at the same time slower somehow. Strangely, Officer EMT countered by matching the speed of his opponent, hoping to keep up with her somehow.

"I just wanted to know if something I played a part in didn't result in more casualties." he whispered and stared down towards the ground. "Time and time again, it feels like I'll I ever seem to accomplish is bringing doom for others."

Victoria then sheathed both of her blades and slapped him.

"Stand up!" she screamed and pushed him to the ground. "Where is the Mr Buzzkill who charged right in, just to ruin my fun and then threatened to take away a nonexistent pudding cup and spoon. Where is he? Where is he?!"

Victoria wasn't quite sure what exactly had gotten into her. Yet, she didn't really care. For some reason, she couldn't let this end so unhappily for both of them.

"You're right." Officer EMT remarked and shifted his gaze back to the black cat as he got up. "Thanks. I needed that."

After saying that, a familiar pink catgirl ran towards the duo, possibly as a result of the commotion of their earlier fight.

"What's going on, nya?" the catgirl inquired, only for Victoria and EMT to take a deep breath and head in different directions. Or in this case, Officer EMT getting back into his vehicle and slowly driving to Victoria's camp…

* * *

Notes:

I actually rewrote the start of this chapter. Originally, it had EMT actually be more violent to LadyDevimon and Bastemon.

Along with that, Bastemon's design got changed while LadyDevimon stayed with her project digital outfit. And finally, the flashback in this chapter was much closer to the original.


	75. Breakfast and Truth

I don't own digimon.

.

Before we start, it's recommended that you go read chapter 20, due to it getting a major overhaul and a lot of the context here being related to that.

* * *

Session 75

Breakfast and Truths

Dawn quickly arrived upon the digital world, bringing forth the start of a new day for its inhabitants.

"Ugh…" Alice whispered as her eyelids slowly opened up, finding purple rubber feathers currently obscuring her vision. "How did I even end up down here?"

She then took a deep breath and hoped that Suiko had already woken up.

*Did you have to do that?* Suiko whispered and let out a yawn. *I thought you two were getting along quite happy, doing whatever fun thing that you were doing?"

If Alice could, she would stare right into her head in an attempt to discern whatever exactly Suiko had even meant by that. Yet, the gambler took a deep breath and returned her attention to Elena.

"Time to wake up." Alice remarked and began to shake the transformed gale corsair. "Get up and get the day started!"

Elena slowly stirred to consciousness and shifted to her human form.

"Good morning." Elena whispered and focused on Alice, only to give the gambler a confused look. "Uh… why are you in your infusion form?"  
Alice made a quick glance down at herself and did a double take, only to switch back to her human form.

"Let's leave it at that." the gambler whispered and took a deep breath. "Suiko, is your shotgun ready?"

Suiko then poked her head out of her host's stomach, giving a quick nod.

"I got my kris." Elena added and pulled her blades out, only to sheath them afterwards. "Want me to wake our partners, up?"

"Sure."

The corsair then made her way to the far end of the 'room', finding a familiar bird and succubus curled up in the corner.

"Time to get up." Elena explained and gave the two a slight poke, only to get an arrow and a wing slap in return. "Hey…"

Adarnamon and Lily slowly got themselves up and focused in on their human.

"So you want us to get anything that we need from the armored vehicle and be ready to head out?" Adarnamon inquired and actually seemed on the ball for once. "Uh… thanks?"

Lily only took a deep breath, choosing to pick up her yumi afterwards.

"I'm ready." the korawamon remarked and slung the bow onto her back. "Not sure what birdbrain needs to do exactly, outside of waking everyone else up."

 **Seven Song!**

A loud screech echoed throughout the armored vehicle, as a seven orbs of light blinded those in the near vicinity. On the plus side, it woke everyone inside along with the people outside.

 **Terra Archens (Blazing Earth)!**

A stream of lava then shot across the room, forcing everyone to duck and not get roasted by the harem mage.

"Ugh…" Polly remarked and casually walked over to the group. Fatemon and Chacha were right behind, seeming to stomp their way over. "Good morning, everyone."

"How are you, Polly?" Elena inquired and watched the monk magi sigh.

"Alright." Polly answered as she focused in on Fatemon. "Just got some things on my mind."

"Oh."

With that, Joey and Aaron stumbled their way over, falling over once or twice in the short distance that they had to go. And while they could've gotten the help of their digimon, that idea did not come to them somehow.

"Breakfast is ready." Gentleman announced and poked his head into the room. "I would suggest you get it now while it's still hot and the crazy catgirl's aim somehow doesn't lock onto me."

The members of Delta quickly grabbed the remainder of their necessary stuff and exited the armored vehicle.

Outside, they found themselves in a clearing surrounded by light forest. A jalopy sat at the edge of the clearing with a small fire in its general vicinity. A couple large sleeping bags had been scattered all about, with a long table filled with a variety of food having been put right near the armored vehicle.

"So, what do you guys think?" Consligmon inquired as Yokozamon and Issacmon walked up to him. "Hopefully this will be enough for you guys."

"You shouldn't have." Elena remarked and made her way towards the table. Everyone else followed right behind, sitting themselves down in the dirt. While they would've have preferred some chairs, this would do for the time.

What followed, followed was a no holds-barred feast into a variety of breakfast related goodies.

"Hopefully you're enjoying this." Officer EMT explained and sat himself down. "It was a lot of work getting this all together

It was another ten minutes before they even close to being full, which was then followed by a quick clean-up and tear down. Afterwards, they grabbed whatever else they needed from the

"Is everyone ready?" Elena remarked as everyone nodded in agreement.

The journey to Despair High passed quite quickly, with them reaching their destination in little time. Since the last time anyone had actually been to the place, some jokester had placed a couple corpses on long stakes along with a list of names by the door.

 **Banned People:**

Devi

Victoria Arcana

Makoto Naegi and co.

Alice Zwingli/Suiko Tanaka

"Uh… why is Alice listed on there?" Joey remarked as Alice took a close look at the list, only to give the bodies a quick glance.

"Crap." the gambler whispered and took a deep breath. "This is kind of my fault."

As Alice said that, both her partners and Elena turned to face her, confused by what she had just said.

"A while back, 'we' chased a rumor about there being some sort of powerful weapon or something, I'm not quite sure what." Suiko explained as she poked most of her body out for them to all see. "There was also this girl who somehow knew we would be there and did everything in her power to get us killed. So we brought her down a peg, I hope."

As Suiko finished that particular part of the story, Victoria and her group of people and digimon walked up.

"That's funny." Victoria added and turned her attention to Alice and Suiko. "One of my 'teammates' gave us some information about you people somehow being behind the death of Arresterdramon, their personal mode of transportation. Though, she did sneak away in the middle of the night."

Elena and co's attention shifted towards the black cat, curious of anything else that she could add to that particular part of their journey. But, it was her partner who decided to clear her throat.

"Oh right. There's also you sending me off to this forsaken place to do something with your 'master'." LadyDevimon remarked and gave Victoria a glare. "We wouldn't be in this situation if you hadn't just went and grabbed her yourself?"

Victoria took a deep breath and sighed, only for her gaze to fall on the ground.

"Because 'she' would just set it back again." Victoria whispered and shook her fist in the air. "But not this time. I'll make sure of it!"

 **BlackGatomon infusion digivolve too… Selenemon!**

 **LadyDevimon infusion digivolve too… LadySucimon!**

In place of the lolita girl, now stood the woman in the purple gown. Beside her, stood another woman dressed in a fairly questionable black dress and matching sandal heels. A pair of short bat wings hung out of her back, complimenting her long silver hair and lack of a gauntlet on her left arm. Finishing off her look was a pair of silver eyes and pink lips.

 **Scanning…**

 **LadySucimon**

 **Mega, Despair**

 **Special Moves: Suci Wing, Suci Temptation, Binta**

 **.**

 **Lily: Big whoop. You aren't even a full-on succubus.**

 **Elena: Lily…**

 **Lily: Fine.**

 _Scan Complete._

"As you were saying, nya?" Kuro added, only to focus on LadySucimon.

"There wasn't anyone there except for some Monokumas and one of the digimon sovereigns for some reason."

Both Alice and Suiko gave her a confused glance, unsure of what to make of this new information.

"That can't be…" the gambler whispered and allowed her gaze to fall upon. "Both Suiko and I saw actual people in there, who we left alone to the best of our abilities."

LadyDevimon only gave a glare as she turned to face the two.

"Afterwards, we grabbed some stuff from their vault and made a promise to this 'Despair' la-"

Fatemon slammed his fist into Alice's face, only to find a rubbery tail wrapped around it.

"Let go of me, you brain dead bimbo!" he whispered as Elena's gaze focused on him. "Sometimes, I wonder if you're really cut out for this leadership thing."

Yet, Elena didn't let go. Instead, her 'grip' on the harem mage tightened.

"Then why did you slap my girlfriend then?" Elena whispered in the calmest tone she could muster at the moment.

"Because she did the one thing you never do with Despair." Fatemon whispered and stared down towards the ground. "You don't make promises with that 'thing'. You just don't."

Everyone else's gazes fixated on the harem mage, except for Victoria and her group. Who decided to give Delta some space.

"Please tell me you at least agreed to do something reasonable." Chacha added as she and Polly focused on Fatemon.

"She asked me to come back, claiming that I would find a reason sooner or later to come back." Alice finished as Elena released her grip from Fatemon's arm. "Afterwards, Suiko and I got knocked out by some unknown force and woke up to a bunch of dead bodies."  
"That still doesn't explain how this is your fault." Aaron remarked as Olrumon finally caught up to them.

"Before we blacked out, we got a glimpse of another Alice." Suiko whispered and took a deep breath. "Though, she also looked like an overdressed cosplay character."

Alice made a quick glance towards the schoolgirl, possibly attempting to hold back her laughter.

"I have no idea what you're talking about…" Alice remarked as Elena switched back to her human form. "Though, I doubt my current outfit would bring such a reaction."

While she said that, Elena jumped up onto her back.

"Overdressed cosplay character or not, I think your outfit looks nice." the gale corsair complemented and let go of Alice.

"Thanks, honey." Alice whispered as Victoria's group watched on.

"They're an interesting bunch." Victoria whispered and turned her attention to Kuro Neko. "No, don't even think of trying of that on me."

Kuro gave her a confused glance and then attempted to jump onto Victoria. Only to remember at the last moment that her friend was part slime.

"Oh right." the catgirl priestess whispered and carefully pulled herself out of Victoria. "Sorry about that, nya."

Victoria took a deep breath, only to crack a smile afterwards.

"If you people are done with whatever sort of thing that you're currently doing, are you at least ready to enter this place?"

The members of Delta gave a quick nod as Suiko returned to Alice's body.

"Then what are we waiting for then?" the black cat whispered as she headed towards the door, slipping through in the process. The rest followed right behind, ready for whatever could possibly await them on the other side.

* * *

Notes:

Not going to lie, this chapter is kind of a mess. But, I like how it turned out. And in all seriousness, I'm fairly certain that Alice's initial outfit was modeled after Celestia Ludenburg's from the Dangan Ronpa franchise. Along with the whole original twist (her actually being someone else) and her getting pissed if you found out that secret. Though, if she was French instead of German, it would have really looked awkward.

.

Next Time: This is what remains when Julie is allowed to play...


	76. Return to Despair Academy

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 76

Return to Despair Academy

Despair High looked no different from the last time we were here.

The grey walls were as bland as ever, having recently gotten a fresh coat of paint in some places. The floor looked to have been vacuumed at least once, possibly even twice at least.

"It's too clean." Aaron remarked and sniffed the air. "While I have no clue what the people of this place were doing, but it would seem that arrival was expected for some time."

His gaze focused on Fatemon who was currently staring down the hall with Victoria and Chacha.

"Care to tell us what purpose this place served you guys?"

Fatemon and Chacha took a deep breath and turned their gazes to the group.

"We're not quite sure." Fatemon whispered, his gaze slipping towards the floor. "While I know that Julie specialized in psychology, the stupid cloud of darkness was put in charge of all the supplies along with the mail for some reason."

Everyone except Chacha and Victoria's group gave the harem mage a confused glance, unsure of how to process this piece of information.

"Why?" Polly remarked and got a sigh from Chacha.

"It was part of some experiment that Julie was doing." Chacha continued. "When anyone asked what the experiment was, she would just laugh and tell the person to fuck off."

"She was truly a wonderful person." Victoria muttered and took a deep breath. "Left me with that fucking clown as his personal play toy."

The black cat then broke out into a full-on sprint, with the rest of her team following right behind.

"Well that didn't last long." Elena whispered and pulled her kris out. "Though, I guess that was to be expected."

The rest of her teammates followed suit and took a step forward.

 **Warrior's Arrow!**

Farther down the hall, some sort of archer fired an arrow off. Sadly, their aim left a lot to be desired and only managed to pierce a nearby wall.

"Crap." a voice announced as the members of Delta slowly approached, making sure to stay out of the line of fire.

 **Incense Burn!**

Warm dark blue smoke filled the air, which seemed to help their bodies fight back against any incoming damage for their journey for this mess.

"Who goes there?" Elena called out and got no response from the opponent. "Okay…"

 **Flattering Attract!**

Pink light filled the hallway, which was accompanied by cartoony heart and a thick scent of perfume. Strangely, the only one actually affected by the gas was Joey. Or would have, if Gentleman hadn't slapped him.

"Thanks." the shadow scientist whispered as they were finally able to focus in on their opponent. They looked sort of like one of those angels, except they were dressed in green and had on one of their army berets on top of their usual metal helmet.

 _Scanning..._

 **WarAngewomon**

 **Mega, Vaccine**

 **Special Moves: Warrior's Arrow, Flattering Attract**

 **.**

 **Issacmon: But can she make tea?**

 **Gentleman: A better question is she a robot?**

 **Joey: How did I end with so underwhelming partners?**

 _Scan Complete._

Their opponent then gave the trio a confused glance and got a round of Holy Bubbles from Issacmon in return.

"I'll get you for that!" WarAngewomon responded and swung her flatbow at the group.

 **Warrior's Arrow!**

Somehow, she managed to fired off an arrow while swinging her weapon around. Only to hit the wall in the process with the arrow.

 **Shadow Neko Scratch!**

Joey responded by a muttering something under his breath, which somehow called forth a pair of cat paws to do his bidding. That meant watching the appendage bat the mega digimon around until they admitted defeat.

"Okay…" Aaron whispered as they headed onwards, making a left no less than a couple steps later.

"Did the layout change?" Alice inquired and Suiko poked her head out.

*It's entirely possible.* the schoolgirl answered, quickly returning to Alice's body as a bolt of magic arced through the air.

 **Spiritflare!**

Alice carefully aimed her left pistol down the hall and pulled the trigger, watching the sole bullet shoot out. The projectile made the journey down hall and delivered a sweet-sounding 'ring' of a shotgun blast.

*Whoo!* Suiko shouted as she swiftly returned to the gambler's body.

They continued onwards, coming upon an octopus alien creature carrying a blaster. The only other thing of note, was a large hole in the head of the creature as a result of getting blasted with a shotgun.

"Sorry about that." Alice whispered and watched her opponent fire back. She gave the digimon a slight kick to the side, making sure to not cause any further damage to him.

"I wish you the best of luck." their opponent remarked and resigned himself to the side of the hallway. "Though, some medical attention would be nice."

 **Cleansing Melody!**

A calming song filled the air, which had the added effect of somehow sealing up the octopus's head wound.

"Thank you." the opponent whispered and gave them a wave as they headed off. While they could have asked for the name of this mysterious creature, it was best to leave him to mend what remained of his wounds.

They continued onwards, finding the hallway they were in had decided that it would just twist all around for no particular reason.

 **Pylóna tou Ádi** **(Pillar of Hades)!**

Fatemon slammed his foot against the ground and watched a pillar form in front of him. Of course, the harem mage failed to account for the ceiling and managed to create a pillar-shaped hole in the process.

"Much better." Fatemon whispered and took a deep breath, only to make a quick glance towards Polly. "How are you?"

Polly didn't respond, choosing instead to flash a 'thumbs up' towards her partner.

Very carefully, the group got up onto the pillar and carefully made their way to the end of it. Which was easier said than done for some of them.

"Could you have made the pillar any thinner?" Yokozamon shouted as he attempted to keep his balance on the pillar. "Contrary to popular belief, Mr Fatemon, some of need a bit more!"

The harem mage took a deep breath, and carefully waded his way through the line, saying a prayer to himself along the way.

"Sorry about that, Yokozamon." he whispered and lifted the yakuza digimon over his shoulders. "Let me give you a ride."

Very carefully, the two made their across the 'bridge', slowly following the others. Once there, they found themselves in a large square room. Outside of a blackish blue carpet thought to have been left behind Drogaciji Academy and the the various cabinets and storage containers lining the left wall.

"Stupid cloud of darkness." Fatemon whispered as he set Yokozamon down. "Why do you have to be all wishy-washy?"

Yokozamon gave the harem mage a confused glance, only to watch him take a deep breath.

"So is this an order property, or does it belong to this Despair?" Yokozamon inquired as Fatemon made his way over to the back wall, strangely perking up afterwards.

"Technically, this place belongs to the Tanaka's, since 'their' money went into it and most of the other order bases." the harem mage explained as he motioned for the rest of the group to come over. "But if my memory serves me correctly, Julie currently holds the deed."

After saying that, he made a glance towards Polly. While she didn't seem as distraught from hearing that name, a blank expression hung on her face and her gaze had been focused on the floor for a majority of their time in here.

 **Arcane Wrath!**

Fatemon then slammed his fist into the monk magi and sighed. While he understood what she was feeling at the moment, moping would do nothing in this situation.

"I'm sorry." he whispered and pulled his partner back up. "I realize what happened yesterday still weighs heavily on you, but we're here for you."

The monk magi didn't answer, choosing instead to take a deep breath and to deliver a left jab to Fatemon.

"It's alright." Polly whispered as her gaze focused on her partner. "I needed that."

Polly then cracked a smile, even if it seemed kind of fake and was ready to betray her feeling about this. But for the moment, she would set that to the back burner.

After giving both Polly and Fatemon a chance to cool down, the group turned their attention back to the containers. There were six in total, each one marked with the name of an order member or group of members. Each human chose a drawer and took a deep breath…

* * *

Notes:

Their are a lot of digimon related to Despair Academy that you haven't seen yet. I wonder if they'll make their appearance?

.

Next time: What's in the box?


	77. Letters to us

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 77

Letters to us

"Let's see what we got." Alice whispered and looked over the large wicker box she had picked. It had been marked 'The Tanaka's + Prickle', but the penmanship of the label seemed to vary with each letter, with some actually looking like cursive letters, while others seemed to be more like scribblings then an actual letters.

"I don't remember mom and dad's handwriting being that messy…" Suiko remarked as she poked her entire body out of Alice, watching the gambler pull the box out and dump the contents onto the floor. Yet all they found were stacks of unopened envelopes, organized into orderly stacks and held together by thick twine. A couple cardboard boxes were mixed right in, on the off chance that the letters weren't enough.

"Let's see…" Alice started as she carefully untied the knot on the first stack, opening up the top envelope of the stack. But as she examined the first letter, the gambler did a double take.

 _Dear Alice,_

 _Hi! I'm hoping that this letter somehow reaches you, but the odds of that happening seem quite slim since your last letter. I've been doing much better in school, actually managing to make quite a number of friends in the process. Your advice has been big confidence boost and I hope to meet you one day. Maybe then, I can pay you back..._

 _With lots of love,_

 _-Elena Yuliana_

"Uh… I don't remember getting such a letter." Alice whispered and focused in on Elena. "Elena, do you think you can come over?"  
Elena was currently rifling through what seemed to be the 'misc' bin, but seemed to have coming up empty.

"Coming." the gale corsair called out and ran over. "What do you need?"

Alice cracked a smile as she turned to face her partner, possibly wondering if the gale corsair had an explanation for this. Even if she hadn't, she kind of wanted to see how Elena would

"Uh…" Elena started as Alice handed her the paper. "Do you think you can help me with this?"

"Of course." the gambler answered, only for the duo to sit themselves down. "What part are you having trouble with?"

Elena pointed to the words on the paper.

*Wait, you can't read?* Suiko added and watched the gale corsair shake her head. "Oh, that isn't the problem."

"While this looks like my handwriting, I think I would have a better memory of sending something like this." Elena answered as she handed the letter back to Alice. "Though, I'm not quite sure what the odds of this just being a wrong delivery."

"It isn't."

Their gazes had focused on Fatemon, who was currently rifling through his and Chacha's basket with Aaron's help. And by help, I mean giving the mending detective some sort of planner to keep him busy. It was a win-win solution.

"To put it in a way that you sluts would understand, that letter is genuine." Fatemon explained and got a trio of confused glances. "But at the same time, fake."

"Really?" Lily inquired as she and the rest of both Alice and Elena's digimon rolled their eyes. "That's the explanation you give to us? I think you can do better…"

She then winked, getting no response from the harem mage.

"Make of it what you will." he remarked and returned his attention to his box. "If you believe I'm blowing on your maiden bodies, find that cactus and as-"

Just as Fatemon was about to finish his sentence, a bell rang. After the initial ring, it rang four more times.

*Prickle has been eliminated, leaving you almost at the halfway point! It'll truly be sweet once I crush you all.* the timekeeper announced and began to telepathically laugh. "Happy hunting, bozos!"

"Speak of the devil." Fatemon whispered and returned his attention to his box, dumping it out onto the floor. Of course, two wicker boxes popped out of that.

"Do you think there will be anything for me?" Chacha inquired and didn't get a response from Fatemon. "Fine then, jerk."

She then sat herself down at what she had guessed was her respective box and sat the container on its side. At first, it had seemed that the odds of getting something were far lower than the vamproid digimon had though, finding just a bunch of bills for things that she didn't remember doing, followed by a bunch of letters from people she had long left behind.

"Come on…" she whispered and started to shake the box about, only for a teddy bear dressed in a makeshift maid outfit to fall out. The plush had seen better days, judging from the amount of dust and dirt in the clothes and it looked just about ready to fall into a million pieces. Yet, a faint scent of garlic seemed to still hang on after all that time, leaving a familiar feeling within Chacha. "Figures."

She picked the teddy bear up, finding a large carabiner clip and yellowed note.

 _Chacha,_

 _Let this be my final gift to you. While you're so far away, I believe that you're doing the best for mahora and the world. I don't have much long, so I hope this bear gets to you. Never forget everything we fought through._

 _-Eva_

"Idiot." Chacha whispered as tears began to roll down her face. "I won't let you down."

Very carefully, she snapped the clip onto her dress and found where the bear needed to be attached. What followed, was a couple failed attempts of getting the two object to somehow connect. It wasn't until Polly noticed what Chacha was even doing that the teddy bear was finally reunited with someone it knew.

"Thank you." Chacha whispered and watched Polly return to her drawer. "Find anything?"

Polly took a deep breath and held up what appeared to be another letter. Unlike the previous two letters, this one looked like it had been made in a batch on a computer, judging from the faded printer ink and what appeared to be handmade toner ink.

"Uh… I don't remember any of that toner leaving Alternis v2." Officer EMT announced as both Polly and Aaron gave the troll 'mecha' a confused glance. "It's a long story."

Yeah, it's probably best to leave it at that.

Polly returned her attention to the paper, giving it her gaze.

 _Dear Mister Gostelow,_

 _We regret to inform you that our tests have revealed that you and your wife have been rendered infertile by the experiments you two conducted with Mister Averruncus and Miss Chacha. While we're not what exactly what exactly the point of your 'experiment' was, but it seems to have not had the intended result you were looking for._

 _Sucks to be you fuckers!_

 _-Julie Enoshima_

"Uh…" the monk magi whispered and shoved the note into a pocket of her outfit. "I'm not sure what to say…"

Her gaze focused in on Joey, who was currently struggling to get his drawer open.

"Need some help?" Polly inquired and watched the shadow scientist give a nod. She walked over, taking a deep breath in the process.

 **Mermaid's Droplet!**

Of course, sometimes the help you get sometimes manages to makes what you were attempting to do even more. One could easily call having part of the cabinet in the ceiling as bad, but the drawer was at least accessible for him. He quickly got to work removing what he could, finding an envelope taped to a package. Carefully, he removed the letter from the attachment, opening it up in the process.

 _Joey,_

 _I fucked up. I wish I could be in person to tell you those words instead of me having to tell you in the after with this letter. For that, I say sorry. Though, I imagine that my words will sound completely hollow, having already seen my coming end. After so long, my mask is no more. For that, I grant upon you two things. The first, is my life's work. The second is my main lab in Odaiba. Finally, I ask of you to kick Julie's ass on my behalf. No telling she's helped herself to what isn't nailed to the ground._

 _Your foster dad,_

 _Shade 'Evil Izzy' Alkruz_

Joey held the paper to the chest and slipped it into his pocket. Afterwards, he turned his attention to the box. This time, the shadow scientist decided that he would attempt to open the container without anyone's help. Of course, his foster dad had decided that duct tape would be the best option for this sort of package.

 **Shadow Neko Strike!**

A pair of cat claws appeared and batted the box around quite happily. Yet, this was somehow not enough to open it.

"Elena?" he inquired as the claws disappeared, leaving behind a quite battered box. "Do you think you can open this for me?"

"Sure." Elena answered and brought over the two boxes that they found in the tanaka's box. She then pulled her kris out, making quick work of the protective tape of all three boxes. "Now, let's see…"

They started with the smallest box, which Alice had taken an interest in for some reason.

"Let's see what we got." the lucky gambler whispered and stuck her hand inside, only to pull out a pair of kris. They kind of looked like the ones Elena used, but had a cat paw-shaped 'hilt' along with what appeared to be peridots embedded inside. "Uh… Happy birthday? Or would it that pre-wedding gift?"

Elena gave a smile as Alice handed the blades over. She then slipped her new blades into her pocket as the rest of the party gave them a mix between a confused and interested glance.

"So you're actually going to do it, huh?" Gentleman asked and both gals gave a nod. "Oh my. Aren't you two a little young to get married?"

"As long as you have permission, it's alright." Alice added as Elena stuck her hand into the second box, pulling out what appeared to be a piece of leather attached to a pair of elastic cords attached to a y-shaped metal rod.

"I'm guess this is for Aaron." Elena remarked and handed the weapon over to the mending detective. "Which just leaves Joey's box."

Their gazes then focused in on Joey, who decided to take a deep breath before digging into the box. At first, he seemed to come up to empty. But on his fifth attempt, he managed to grab hold of an oval-shaped object and pulled it out. Of course, a bright light then appeared for a fraction of a second, fading as quickly as it appeared.

The shadow scientist then made a glance down at the object in his hand, only to do a double take.

It was a blue and silver D-3, similar to the ones carried by everyone's favorite group of digidestined. Yet, something about it seemed different. Maybe it was the surge of energy that Joey could feel while it was in his hands. Or perhaps it was the fact that this sort of gift seemed too good to be true. Almost all the other digivices in this multiverse were toys at best, useless junk at worst. While an amazing find, it wasn't anything that interesting unless it somehow did something spectacular.

"Hey!" Joey shouted as the rest of delta headed towards the exit, with him bringing up the rear…

.

Further on, Victoria's group had found themselves in a hall of wax figures. While most of them warranted no glance from her, one of them in particular had caught her gaze.

It was that of a young girl with a gatomon, walking through a field.

What could've been

As tempted as the black cat was to smash the statue into a million pieces, she instead chose to turn her attention back to the hallway…

Notes:

Yeah, this was fun to write. Even if it's just one long set-up chapter for the next couple arcs.

.

Next Time: A flashback with a certain black cat...


	78. Butterfly (Final Version)

I don't own digimon.

* * *

 _Butterflies, that is what we all are. We enter the world, growing up from caterpillars into butterflies. We then migrate from home, mate with other butterflies and die once we reach our home. And the cycle repeats itself._ -Victoria, DA03

* * *

Session 78

Butterfly (Final Version)

The memories of her still hung tightly within Victoria.

She could still clearly that day in her mind, finding herself within a small garden once more. It was here her former master stood in all her glory at the tender age of fifteen. Here amid the lilacs and the roses she and the girl would play all sorts of games, from the simple ones such as chess or checkers to more complicated stuff like battleship or charades.

All without the gaze of Julie or that stupid cloud of darkness to interfere.

Yet, that day was different from the others.

"Victoria, I have to go." a girl explained, her dark red hair seeming to flutter about in the wind. "And this time, I doubt I'll be allowed to see you in the future."  
"Why, Chouko?" the blackgatomon inquired as she pawed at the pink and purple ribbons in her master's hair.

"Mom sees you as a corrupting influence towards my growth." Chouko explained and gave Victoria a pat on the head. "If she caught me with you, I don't dare to think what she could do to us."

"I'll have to agree with you there." Victoria answered and managed to keep her mind from attempting to shifted to her human form, giving the girl a hug. "May the next time we meet be under much better circumstances."

"Indeed." the girl answered and pulled out a purple and silver D-3, flashing it at one of those old box TV's. "Until we meet again."

She then stepped into the television, somehow managing to fling the blackgatomon her digivice in the process.

For a time, Victoria was content with just waiting in the villa, awaiting her nameless master's return. The black was never quite sure how long she had exactly waited during that period of life, having not much in the way of memories of that time.

Yet, one particular encounter still hung tightly within, having lit the path that she had walked up to now.

The day had begun like all the others, with Victoria hanging out in the garden while in her blackgatomon form.

"Wakey wakey." a voice had called out, forcing her to gaze about her area in search of this elusive intruder. "You know that you can't go like this forever."

 **Lightning Paw!**

After somehow managing to catch a flash of movement, Victoria slammed her paw into the opponent and managed to knock them back.

"Is that really the best you can do?" the champion digimon taunted as she took her opponent in. If her master had shown her that one batman film, Victoria would compared the humanoid to that one character but with more chains and a weird demon thing attached. But since this was not the case, she probably would have compared it to her human form but evil and stuff. Not that she would have worn this particular outfit, but I suspect you get the point.

"Who are you and why are you here?" Victoria barked as she watched the humanoid get back up, taking a deep breath in the process.

"Technically, I'm you without all the slime or human form." the opponent explained. "As such you can call me, your 'half-sister', LadyDevimon."

"Uh… sounds good?" Victoria answered as she looked over her sister's outfit over. In comparison to the black cat's human form and Chouko, LadyDevimon was quite a bit taller and bustier than the two. Which meant that any clothes that were on hand had to be either modified or had to be stitched together in order to make work. So for now, she would leave her newfound partner's outfit alone for the moment. "So why are you here?"

LadyDevimon took a deep breath and pointed towards where Victoria had been sleeping. There, the D-3 from before casually laid dormant, its master long gone now.

"Something about this place seemed to draw me here." LadyDevimon explained as she looked Victoria over. "Though I guess that means we're partners."

Victoria gave her a confused glance, only to follow it up with a deep breath.

"Fine, we're partners." the black cat finally answered and shifted to her human form, right as LadyDevimon jumped on her.

After that day, things start feel different for Victoria. Once could call it hope or blind faith. Or possibly both.

For the next couple couple 'cycles', their group grew in size in the form of a Sistermon (Noir) and a girl by the name of Deanna Motomiya. But while this happened, Victoria kept her gaze on the goal ahead.

As time marched onwards and change arrived to the digital world, her cockiness seemed to grow. Where before she would just watch and observe, eventually grew to slight interference and from that became full-on intrusion into the story. Half of the time, there was no real big reason for her to even be there. She still came anyway.

Yet, everything was flipped upside down over a decade ago with the successful kidnapping of a digidestined. For the next five years, she personally trained said digidestined in the hopes of helping in their cause. How wrong that turned out to be. To call what happened in a single day to Odiaba all those years ago a disaster would be an understatement yet at the same time, far from the truth. While the boy had only managed to get himself killed at the hands of his own partner, she had found herself a friend in the form of a pink catgirl priestess and her belly dancing cat partner. And while yes, she had to go back to her realm with her overprotective at times mother, it was a connection that led to something greater.

A pair of girls playing by themselves on the sidewalk, oblivious to the end of this particular experiment. Yet, she had noticed them. And of course, she didn't leave such an opportunity unfulfilled and left one of the children something they could use in the future.

But the winds of fortune seemed to change quickly, with the black cat and company subject to a series of heavy losses followed by a time of dormancy. Yet they persevered, with Victoria and her digimon managing to join up with another digimon team and meet Chouko once again. But they had to part just as soon as they reunited.

For a short time after, peace seemed to reign once more. Well, at least until a new group of heroes seemed to rise from out of nowhere. Unlike the previous group, they seemed to have their shit together, somehow. But at the same time, they were even more broken then all the others. They brought with them both a sense of respect and dignity, yet a lack of control and finesse. They were at best five different individuals with five different agendas and each agenda had their own sub agendas to boot. But they somehow managed to pull themselves in line and make it work amid their differences.

"Here it is." Victoria whispered and pushed a curtain aside, she and her team find themselves in a large armory. It was a simple rectangular room with both an exit to the south and one to the east, with some just as uninterested gray walls and white tile floor. Metal shelves lined the walls, with empty boxes left behind. Any sign of an actual weapon were long gone now, with dust being the only sign that there had been something there in the first place. Yet, something about this place seemed… off. While her experience with actual bases belonging to major factions of the digitalverse was quite limited, she was more than well acquainted with this place.

"There you are." a voice announced as Elena and the rest of Delta walked in from the east exit, focusing their attention on Victoria and company. "Did you find anything?"

A smile formed on the black cat's face as she approached the north wall, giving it a knock. A hollow knock sounded back, just loud enough to make her smile grown even bigger.

 **Moon Inferno!**

Victoria then concentrated for a couple seconds and created a violet fireball in her hands. She then slammed it into the wall, watching it shatter a hole large enough for a person to get through. She then passed through as she made a motion for the others to follow.

On the other side, they found themselves in a large hangar-like room. Glass tubes filled with what appeared to be the 'dead' bodies of children and digimon stood along the floor, of what purpose they could still serve remained to be seen. Four corpses laid in front of the tubes, with them propped up to look like they were holding hands for some reason. Of course, the mystery person had left behind a plaque for them to read.

Dimensional Equivalence

"Okay…" Alice whispered as Suiko poked her head out to see the 'sculpture'. "So I guess we know what happened to the other Suiko and I."

The gambler turned her attention to Aaron, who was currently making a note of the art installation and what Alice had said. Once she was sure that the detective had gotten all that he had needed, the gambler and Suiko proceeded to rob their corpses of their guns and ammo. At the very least, they didn't just grab the clothes off the other victims and put them on place of their own.

*Why would we do that?* Suiko inquired as she reloaded her shotgun, making an attempt to discern why exactly the author had made a reference to that. But for she could let it slide.

"Oh my, you've arrived!" a voice added as a cloud of black smoke descended down, forming into the shape of a adult female humanoid. It then took on the skin and clothes of one next, going for a near deathly pale white skin tone that had been covered by a gray cloak. "Let's just get this over with. I'm Despair, the order member running this place. Victoria, just go grab the girl and her friends and never come back."

Neither group gave an answer, seeming quite confused by the cloud's response.

"Why should we trust you?" Kuro accused and pulled her flatbow out, pointing it towards the cloud. "While you don't seem evil and all, we need to take you down in our pursuit for the timekeeper, nya."

After the catgirl priestess had said that, one of those detonators from star wars appeared in Despair's hands.

"One push, and this place goes up in ash and dust." Despair announced

For a few brief seconds, silence filled the room. But, this was followed laughter and giggles.

"Uh… what's so funny?" the 'humanoid' inquired as she watched her audience seem to refuse to take this seriously. "Fine then. You've made your choice."

Despair gave the detonator a soft push and cracked a smile, her gaze focusing intently on her possible opponents. In a matter of seconds, there would be nothing left and for once, it would be Despair's defining moment. Not Devi's, not Julie's, her's.

Yet, nothing happened.

"Is that it?" Victoria inquired as she made a glance towards Despair. "If it is, I'll make this quick."

Despair didn't responded verbally, choosing to let a nod do all her talking for her. She only watched as the black cat reverted back to her blackgatomon form, who decided that charging towards the opponent was the best move.

 **Lightning Paw!**

The black cat then jumped into the air, delivering a punch to their opponent and watched them crumple to the ground. Yet, her attention was not focused on

"Victoria?" a familiar voice called out as the black cat broke into a full-on sprint, allowing her focus to lock-on to the one thing that mattered in this situation. "Is that you?"

"Of course, Chouko." Victoria whispered as a young girl picked her up. She was dressed quite weirdly, having chosen a lavender spaghetti strap tank top with a black skirt and grey pumps. A pair of red bangs hung down towards her waist, which had gotten pink and purple ribbon braided in. Finishing off the look, was a bright blue eyes and a petite mouth with a large smile upon it. "For now and forever."

With that, the two embraced each other in a hug as their teammates watched on. A couple let out an 'aww' but kept it quiet enough to not risk their privates getting cut off.

"Thank you, Delta." Victoria whispered as the members of Delta gave her a confused glance. "I'll take Chouko and her friends with me. Of course, I wish you people the best of luck in your endeavors."

Their gazes refocused on the black cat, who had let go of her partner and had returned to her human form.

"Of course." Elena answered as she and her teammates turned around, finding that Officer EMT had managed to get his armored vehicle up to the hangar area while they looking at the letters. Of course, as they reached the vehicle, the bell rang six times.

"It appears that you have reached the halfway mark." a woman announced and followed it up with a snicker. "But remember, I'm still here. If push came to shove, I'm more than willing to burn this multiverse down just to make sure of it. Good luck!"

They chose to ignore her taunting.

"So to Odiaba then?" Joey inquired as they got inside, pulling his new toy out in the process. "At the very least, we can give the D-3 a try."

Once everyone had gotten themselves seated, the shadow scientist began to fiddle with the digivice. In retrospect, they probably should've waited till they had left Despair Academy before attempting to use a digi-port. But that thought hadn't gone through Joey when he used the device, having already made his choice.

The vehicle was then engulfed in pinkish white light and disappeared from Despair Academy...

* * *

Notes:

Damn. It feels so odd to finally see them together after so many near misses and setbacks on their journey. But considering how 'close' we are to the end, a little closure wouldn't hurt.

Possibly the hardest decision was to trying to decide what to title this chapter. However, it was pretty obvious what it should be.

.

Next Time: A family reunion, nearly three years in the making.


	79. Heading Home

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 79

Heading Home

The walk out of Despair Academy quickly passed for Victoria and the long line of people and digimon following behind her.

Of course for Chouko and the other survivors, knighthead and spear lady, this was kind of a big deal. While they had been 'outside' before, there was always someone with them acting as a chaperone in order to keep them from making an escape attempt. Or attempt to steal the bus that Bob had left behind for some reason.

"Must you ruin the moment?" Knighthead remarked and made a quick glance towards the sky, shaking his fist at it. "You've already done more than your fair share of damage, physically and emotionally."

Knighthead was what you expected, being a blonde-haired guy in metal plate armor with a sword at his side. His 'squire' was what appeared to be a shorter version of a lilithmon, but with a simple black dress than the usual paragraph long outfit almost nobody ever attempts to describe. Unlike her master though, she had chosen a staff as her weapon of choice. Next to her was Chouko's partner, a familiar blue wyvern digimon.

"Oh hey, someone acknowledged me!" she announced and began to jump up and down in amusement. Or was, until Victoria shot the rookie a glare. "Boo hoo hoo. You could at least keep your hate a little more subtle."

The digimon's remark fell upon deaf ears, which seemed to quite effectively take the wind out of her sails.

That left Spear Girl and her 'partner'. Of course, 'Spear Girl' was kind of an inaccurate title for the girl. She was at best a shrine maiden with a katana on a stick, with the only things of note to really distinguish herself appearance-wise being the chestnut colored bun she had her hair in and the faded pair of yellow eyes taking it all in.

"I would prefer spear maiden, to be honest with you." the girl whispered as she turned her attention to the final member of their little group, at what looked to be a reanimated corpse of a little girl. Soulless voids stared all around the area, not at all caring about the threadbare dress that looked ready to fall apart. She was in actuality Knighthead's other partner, but he allowed her to spend some time with

"Those aren't our names!" the two unnamed humans announced as they squeezed themselves into the jalopy.

"Then what are your names then?" a voice announced and Victoria poked her head out the window, finding Jestery sunbathing on the roof. For some reason, the jester had been under the impression that her mother would be in there for quite some time, judging by the orange and blue bikini outfit she was currently wearing. "Oh hi, mama kitty."

Victoria took a deep breath and sighed.

"Get into your regular clothes and head back to the villa." Victoria ordered and got no response.

"What? No 'I'm glad to see you, Jestery' or 'Hi Jes-'" before Jestery could finish, what appeared to be a naginata was poked into her bust.

"Begone demon!" a voice announced, only for Jestery to grab hold of the weapon and proceed to break in half. "Waaa… You'll pay for that, monster."

Gunshots then rang out as the other passengers decided that ducking would probably be good at the moment.

"Jestery is not a demon!"

Before things could get any more out of hand, Victoria got out of the car and slapped her daughter, following it up with an order to repair spear girl's weapon.

"I am not sure what either of your people's problems is, but I don't care." the black cat explained as she got out of the vehicle, pulling her butterfly swords out in the process. "We have a lot of miles to cover in a short period of time. Unless you're here to actually do something helpful instead of your usual stuff, head back to the villa."

Jestery frowned, only to follow it up with a sigh.

"You win." the jester whispered and teleported off the roof. Afterwards, Victoria reentered the vehicle and started it up. "Now then. What are your guy's names?"

Both Kuro and LadyDevimon turned her attention to the children and their digimon.

Taka." Knighthead whispered and closed his eyes, mumbling something under his breath.

"Veemon." the wyvern added and clear her throat. "Did everyone hear that?"

A couple 'yeah' and 'crystal clear' later, the rookie digimon was content. While it was possibly tempting to throw a bit in after, she decided to not push her luck.

"Fuyu." spear maiden responded and pulled corpse girl towards her. "And that's Syo."

With their introductions finished, the two humans turned their attention to Chouko.

"Just who are these strangers?" Fuyu inquired and watched her friend take a deep breath.

"The one currently driving is Victoria, my former partner. She's partnered with LadyDevimon, while the pink catgirl currently attempting to snuggle with Victoria appears to be some gatomon variant that came into being while we in endless murderland. Finally, there's a large cat in the back that I believe is a Bastemon."

Both Kuro and LadyDevimon clapped, while Bastemon chose to continue to nap.

"As expected of a tamer." Victoria remarked and made a quick glance at Chouko.

"I'm a PriestessGatomon." Kuro explained and turned around to face Chouko and her friends. "If you don't mind me prying, would you care to tell us your story, nya?"

Chouko took a deep breath and gazed over her teammates and the digimon, who just shook their heads.

"Not at the moment, Miss…" Chouko started, only to for the catgirl priestess to laugh.

"Just call me Kuro." Kuro explained and got a nod in return. The conversation ended after that, with the rest of the drive engulfed in uneasy silence. Yet, Victoria and Kuro Neko were fine with it. If anything, it could serve as a moment of temporary peace within the storm of calamity that was their lives these days.

An hour had blissfully passed, with the jalopy just passing by a snow capped castle illuminated by twilight light. It still awaited its residents, possibly hoping to see their return. But no one has the heart to tell it the fate of its occupants. Not that they would, since it's an inanimate castle.

"Why are you even telling us that?" Victoria remarked. "Everyone except Kuro and I are currently asleep. Who exactly are you telling this stuff too?"

 **Breeze Petal!**

Before she could get an answer from the author, a gust of wind attempted to flip the jalopy over.

"Do you want me to handle this, nya?" Kuro inquired and watched Victoria shake her head.

"No, let me come with you." the black cat whispered as she stopped the jalopy. "If nothing else, we might get an actual battle this time."

The two then exited the jalopy, pulling their weapons out in the process.

"Hand them over." a voice announced as a second tornado formed in the near vicinity. "If you don't, you'll have to pay with your lives."

"Show yourself." Victoria shouted back and watched a pair of girls walk towards them. The first appeared to be a young adult at best and looked by all accounts like a mary sue. Every bit of her body seemed to have been sculpted in absolute perfection, from the head all the way down to the toes. Strawberry blonde hair hung down her back while a pair of hollow red eyes stared right towards them.

"It's been awhile, Victoria." the figure greeted, its voice just artificial and fake as the body. "Did you really think I would just let you take my toys away so easily?"  
Victoria didn't answer, choosing instead to give Kuro a nod.

 **Priestess Arrow!**

Kuro pulled her bowstring back and notched an arrow back. As she did, some weird dressed fairy person appeared and knocked the girl over.

"Uh… thanks?" Kuro remarked as Victoria pulled a flashlight out. "Who even are you?"

"I'm Kazemon!" the digimon remarked and began jumping up and down for no particular reason.

 _Scanning…_

 **Kazemon**

 **Variable, Variable**

 **Special Moves: Tornado Legs, Breeze Petal, Rosy Thunderstorm, Flowery Gust, Astatina Wasp, Moon Assault, Two Step Jump, Virgin Bomb, Fairy Dance and Pretty Hip**

 **.**

 **Kazemon: Kazemon doesn't remember having that many moves. Also, what's a virgin?**

 **Victoria: Uh… It's a type of drink.**

 **Kazemon: Miss Ranamon likes those a lot! She had asked Kazemon to get her one before she get captured! Miss Ranamon must be really pissed at Kazemon for being so late!**

 _Scan Complete._

After that truly enlightening analyzer sequence, Kazemon ran towards the coast with a spring in her step. Of course, she also decided to take what remained of her 'master' along for the journey.

"This isn't the last time we'll meet!" the girl announced as the two quickly got out of earshot of Victoria and Kuro Neko.

"Well that was… something or other." Victoria whispered as they headed back towards the jalopy. "Let's get home."

"Agreed." Kuro answered as they headed off, with them making an attempt at trying to catch up on the time they had lost on that attempted assault. The orange and yellow sky quickly gave way to dark purple and blues as they reached the villa.

"Well, here we are." Victoria remarked and took a deep breath, watching Sistermon (Noir) and Cora run up.

"Welcome home, Victoria." Sistermon (Noir) greeted and followed it up with a curtsy. "I do hope that your trip was a successful one."

Victoria let out a chuckle as Cora cleared her throat.

"Welcome back… I guess." the maid explained as she did her best attempt at a curtsy, seeming slightly out of practice. "I'm guessing you managed to not only find her, but actually return her. Good on you."

"Thanks…" Victoria remarked and turned her attention to the back of the jalopy. While the kids were at least now awake, they had somehow had not figured out how to get out of the vehicle. She was also certain that only one of them actually wore their seatbelt. For the moment, it was the sort of thing the black cat could let slide. Especially since she planned to take the jalopy back tomorrow.

"Dinner is ready!" a voice announced and Jestery teleported in, motioning for them to follow her inside. "Now, who's ready to dine like kings and queens?"

Everyone except Victoria followed the jester inside, leaving the black cat to her thoughts.

"I did it." she thought, cracking a smile and stared up towards the sky. "Just one thing left to do."

Victoria took a deep breath and whispered something to herself as she headed inside. For now, she would savor the moment and head onwards...

* * *

Notes:

Yes, Kazemon has ten special moves. And that's on the low end for the human spirits, believe it or not.

Other than that, just wanted to close this arc out with Victoria and company along with set some stuff up for later.

.

Next Time: A cactus faces the music.


	80. One last job

I don't own digimon or any franchises that may or may not be referenced in this chapter. And yes, this is necessary.

* * *

Session 80

One last job

In retrospect, he knew the moment he had taken this job that things were not in his favor.

For one, it was a solo mission without any contact with Gabe or Verena. Secondly, the mission in question came from Julie herself.

"It'll be alright, Prickle." he told himself, taking a deep breath. Yet, it wasn't. If it actually were, the cactus doubted that he would even be here on this stupid floating base thing. "Now, let's see…"

He gingerly leafed through the folder that he had been given on the target, making sure that the information was correct.

"Flower, wait up!" a voice announced as a large blue seal creature entered the room. "You can't just run off like that!"

Prickle only took a deep breath, puffing up his 'chest' as the seal approached.

He pitied them to some extent, this girl and her seal 'housewife'. They were free from the chains of destiny, the sort that seemed to bind him not only to Drogaciji Academy but to the order itself. They could go wherever they wanted to at the pace they chose for themselves, while he had to follow orders or risk the punishment of dying a horrible and painful death.

"Welcome, Aqua Luli." he announced as he watched the seal's owner enter the room. By the standards of digitalverse characters and the weird outfits they wear, she had chosen to go with a purple tank with a blue floral skirt and slightly raised blue sandals. Sandy blonde reached towards her neck, which was overshadowed by the pair of blue glasses and yellow eyes with a coat of blue lipstick to boot. Finishing off the look was one of those trilby hats with a purple band. And before you ask, why yes, this was what she chose her outfit to be. "I wish there was some other way for you or your master to not be caught within the crossfire of this war."

The girl mumbled something under her breath and tossed some sort of object into the air, only for a large butterfly to appear.

Prickle closed his eyes and opened them back up, making sure that he wasn't in some weird hallucination-induced dream sequence. He had more than his fair share between Shade, Julie and Verena. It wasn't that hard to mix the chemicals to make an effective smokescreen. Yet these three seemed to fail to grasp this particular concept with almost facepalm levels of stupidity. You would think that a nobel prize winning scientist, a psychologist known for making groundbreaking discoveries related to the mind and an explorer of alternate worlds would have more than enough experience and knowledge between them to mix the chemicals involved. But that was far from the case in this madhouse of a group, with the trio usually giving the mist for him to test. And of course, the cactus would manage to trip out one way or another. Though, he was fairly certain that there was ever a legitimate reason to make the stuff most of the time. They had the 'children' under their control and few forces could even dare to face them in combat. Yet, all it took was a single day for everything to change.

No more were they on top of the world, having been flung off by their very own test subjects. So they scattered themselves with the wind, choosing to hide in their labs/bases until the chance to strike would come. For Prickle, that meant joining Gabe and Verena in their 'cluster of universes'. For some time, things quieted down and the trio found themselves focusing on other things. For Prickle it was actually getting a proper education. Or at least something resembling a proper education. But wouldn't you know, Gabe and Verena had something in different in mind. And it came in the form of a little bundle of joy… that only got to see the world for a few brief moments.

It's funny how something being with you for such a short period of time can change dramatically. The cactus could only helpless watch his partners in crime spiral into depression and obsession. No more were they just traveling the alternate worlds for the fun of it. It was always, 'to find some piece of her' or 'get some usable bit of DNA'.

As time went on, the cluster seemed to grow with new additions coming each day. Yet with it, came a hollow feeling of emptiness. Iteration after iteration of their daughter would pass through as they waited to be 'deployed'. Just thinking that phrase made him with want to puke up water. Some point along that line, he made a choice. It was a dumb stupid one that should have gotten him killed back then. Yet, he managed to slip away and get commit a 'flawless' act against the order. But now, his crime had caught up to him. And this was the fate that had awaited him.

"Let us begin." the cactus whispered as his attention focused on Aqua Luli. During his flashback, she had pulled out what appeared to be a kitchen knife. While not the most scariest thing he had found himself staring down in his time, it would make for an interesting match-up.

His opponent started off with a charge, motioning for her 'partners' to follow right behind. Prickle responded by hopping towards them, pulling his left 'arm' back in anticipation of the coming knife stab. But it was the seal who went for first blood, shooting a pink beam of light from its mouth and into his chest. Somehow, this was the butterfly's cue, since it decided to follow the seal's attack up with a ball of dark purple energy and some swipes with its wings. Which was then finished with Aqua slamming her knife into the already weakened chest. Prickle responded in the best way he could, attempting to give the girl a very painful hug. She answered it by smashing both of them into the floor. But all that seemed to do was knock a couple of needles off and fling both Aqua and her seal thing towards the entrance of the room.

"Are you ready to die?"

The cactus turned around, finding nothing there.

"Who said that?" Prickle called out, only to get a mix of snickering and somehow managing to miss the gaze of the speaker. "We're the only ones here, right?"

Aqua Luli stayed silent, having decided that now was the best time to be pulling needles out of her seal. Which on closer inspection was wearing a dress for some unknown reason.

"Okay…"

It was the sort of thing that could only found in this multiverse, the one and only part of this job the cactus actually enjoyed. He had missed this sort of thing, having grown dull from the time spent cooped up in the 'lab'. And showed to some extent, judging by the fact he was getting his butt handed to him by someone not only lacking in combat training, but had come with a lack of sense as well.

"So you're able to understand the seal housewive thing and I. Good to know." the voice remarked as a sinister chuckle filled the air.

Prickle did a double take, giving the seal a confused glance. While he was no expert on gender, he was fairly certain that particular seal was male.

"Do I really want to know?"

More laughter, as if this was all some big joke in this person's head.

"Are you sure you want to be doing this? You do know who her master is?" the voice announced and possibly cracked a smile. "Strike us down? He'll strike you a thousand times harder. Kidnap us? Be ready to face not only fire and brimstone, the wrath of many highly deadly creatures who are more than capable leaving you and your friends far worse for the wear. Kill us? I really hope that you've made your amends and are content with what you done. From the stories that I've heard, there ain't a snowball's chance in hell that you or anyone affiliated with you will be nothing but tombstones."

"Show yourself!" Prickle announced, only for the butterfly to jump on his face. "You little…"

"Your first mistake was choosing to listen to little old me." the butterfly whispered as he managed to close Prickle's mouth. "The greatest skill of an assassin is to hide in plain sight and wait for the right moment to strike. I really do wish there was some other way in this mess."

He then gave Aqua a nod, who charged towards the cactus and slammed her knife into him.

"Thank you…" Prickle whispered and closed his eyes. Following that, a bell rang five times.

"Well, I got nothing." the timekeeper announced, only for Aqua to sit down and pull out a small notebook. "Congrats. You're almost half of the way there."

"Perfect." she whispered and closed her note as they headed on, with her leaving the cactus to his own devices. Even on her return trip no less than a couple minutes later, she gave him no attention. Though, he didn't blame her for making that choice.

"Oh my." a voice announced, forcing the cactus to gaze up.

Currently, an angel stood before him. But unlike the one styled after the ange line of digimon, this one looked like blue haired woman in a light blue dress. A pair of blue orbs stared towards, complimented by the pale white lips.

"You're not one of Shade's, are you?" Prickle mumbled and got a confused glance.

"I do not recognize that name." the angel whispered and slammed her hands together, pulling forth what appeared to be spear with a blue ribbon coiled around it. "But for your actions and instigating a war between the Dear Internet Mailing Company and the order, you shall be punished."  
Prickle froze, unsure of whether there truly was a right answer.

"At least, tell me your name."

"Lazuli." the angel whispered and closed her eyes. "Servant of the conjurer."

Lazuli then swung her spear into the cactus, rendering the once living organism into a crystal cluster as she walked away.

"Please forgive me, master…"

.

"You're awake."

Chacha's eyes slowly open.

Gone was the interior of the jalopy, having been replaced with that of a large living room. Four white paper walls surround her, adding quite well to the tatsumi mat floor.

"Master, is that you?" Chacha calls out and places a hand out.

"It's me." a woman answers and grabs hold...

* * *

Notes:

This is pretty much an 'intermission' sort of chapter. Though the funny thing is, you should have a quite clear picture of what's coming for Delta.

.

Next time: Sometimes, the future you fought for is not the one that you get to experience...


	81. An unwritten future

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 81

An unwritten future

There were many things that Chacha has managed to miss out on during her slumber at Mahora.

One of those things were the possibilities that may have occurred during her absence. And while she wanted to believe things turned out alright (outside of her classmates deaths), there was always a feeling of uncertainty.

Yet as she stood before this familiar woman, those feelings dissipated. In their place, came warmth and comfort.

"It's been a while, hasn't it?" the woman whispers as Chacha wraps her arms around her.

"Master…" Chacha answers as she gets a hug in return.

"We can drop the formalities." the woman explains, sitting herself down on the floor as Chacha did the same. "So tell me of your travels."

"Of course, master." Chacha starts, only for a bright beam of sunlight to come through and blind her.

When her vision finally cleared, she found herself within the ruins of some house. The walls were almost nonexistent and the floor had seen far better days. The only thing of note were two plushies. The one on the far left was dressed in a black dress with bright green hair. A pair of cat ears sat on her head, finishing off the look with a pair of soulless green eyes. The plush on the far left was more of a doll than an actual plush, having been dressed in a purple kimono with similar eyes to the plush on the far left. Like the plush on the left, it too had a pair of cat ears as well.

"Quiet. They're currently playing the alice game." a voice explained and the gyroid turned around, finding a copy of herself standing before her. But unlike her, she didn't seemed to have a plush currently snapped to her dress.

"Who are you?" Chacha accused, only for the double to laugh.

"I'm you." Chacha #2 answered back and brought 'glacial spike' out.

 **Parasol Blade!**

Chacha pulled the parasol off her back and allowed for both hands to grip it tightly. She then dashed forward, swinging her 'sword' at the double. The other Chacha chose to just stand there and allowed the blade to slice right through, destroying her in the process.

"You win." the copy whispered and then fell to the floor, leaving Chacha with a mix of silence and confusion. "You're the one who will become Alice…"

"Alice?" Chacha remarked as a feeling of unease spread throughout her body. Even after holstering her parasol to her back, did that feeling seem to subside.

"Now where we?" a voice whispers as the world around her began to shift once more, with the normal interior returning to do its duty once more. The blonde woman was also there, having also brought along some tea and teacups as well. "Oh right. You were going to tell me about all the adventures you had."

Chacha made an attempt at focusing her gaze on her former master, but found that each attempt result in failure. So she just chose to focus on the head and compensate as best she could.

"I'm not feeling well." she finally let out and got a concerned look from the woman.

"Then we can just take you to the doctor then." the woman answers and helps Chacha up. Afterwards, the two make their way out of the living room and onto the dirt streets that connect a small cluster of buildings together.

"So does this place have a name at all?" the gyroid asks and gets a laugh from the woman.

"If it does, I've probably forgotten it." the woman answers as they reach their destination. A ramshackle hut on the edge of town, seemingly oblivious to the world around it. A sign hangs by the door, labeling it as 'Shinku's Clinic'.

The two approach the door and the woman pulls it open. She then steps through, leaving Chacha by herself as the unease rushes back into her. She makes a quick glance down at herself, finding her usual lolita vampire outfit gone. In place of it, was a bright blue dress with white tights and black shoes. A few strands of unnaturally blonde hair seemed to make an attempt to obscure her vision but had failed miserably.

"No, this isn't right." Chacha whispered and closed her eyes. "Whoever is behind this, stop it!"  
But there was no response as she found herself standing in front of the ruined home. The plushies still sat in their original positions, but had somehow managed to reposition themselves to focus their gaze on the gyroid.

 **Vamptech!**

Chacha's tome floated off the side of her dress and opened up, doing it's hardest to pull any potential energy in either of the plushies. Yet, nothing came out.

"Aren't I allowed some form of happiness in this mess?!" Chacha screamed and kicked the far left doll over. "Almost everyone I know were cut up into pieces little pieces for the sake of saving the one person who made it through by my own teammates."

She closed her eyes, finding herself back in the digital world. More specifically, she was staring down the door leading to the author's 'secret' base.

The gyroid had just given the door a knock and was now awaiting a potential response.

"The author is currently busy." a voice explained as the door was cracked slightly open. "If this is over what happened at Mahora and that revisit, I'm sorry. Can we please be fri-"

The 'door attendant' didn't get to finish her sentence, since Chacha smashed through the door with her parasol. Her opponent looked the same as before all those years, green hair and everything. It was as if god himself was taunting her, reminding her of the extent of what had happened in Mahora. A reminder of how things went totally went wrong for both the better and for the worse.

"Hey, let's talk this out like civilized people." Usagi whispered and stared towards Chacha. "Yes, I killed you and a majority of your classmates while we were trapped in that library. You can hate me for all I care."

The ranger takes a deep breath, closing her eyes and cracking a smile.

"I would just like to be friends with you." she continued and opened her eyes. "Maybe once this whole mess is over, we can sit down and ta-"

Once more, Usagi was refused the simple right of actually getting to finish a complete thought, with Chacha finding her parasol pulled away by a vine whip.

"I was hoping that it wouldn't come down to this." a voice announced as a girl dressed in a bikini top and skirt approached. For some reason, she was also carrying a large scythe by her side. "Fine. I guess I'll do my job for once."

Beside her was a midget, dressed in a gray hoodie and a pair of blue shorts. Hang by his sides were his prefered set of knifes while a whiteboard sign on a stick hung on his back. In other words, it might be a good idea to maybe run and leave the guy doing a very complex ritual alone.

"I hope it fails and you fall through the void." Chacha whispered as she picked her parasol up. "Don't get so smug."

 **Deathbringer!**

Bikini girl swung her scythe forward, launching forth the head attached to a chain for some reason. Chacha chose to dodge

 **Astral Perc-**

Chacha didn't get to finish her attack, since the midget decided to slam his sign into the gyroid's head and knock her to the ground. After, Usagi gave the sign a quick glance only to sigh.

"Just leave while you're still in our good graces." Usagi whispered and took another deep breath. "This is not a fight you can win."

Yet, Chacha had chosen to throw her own caution to the wind and continued her impossible battle against the three servants. It was at best a long drawn out fight that culminated in the trio flinging Chacha out of their room and into a nearby clearing.

She found herself once more in the ruined house. This time, she didn't even try to leave. Instead, she sat herself down between the dolls and closed her eyes. Her mind slowly wandered, looking back upon all that had led up to this point. Those days in school, her time in the order, to her eventual return to mahora. Nothing went unobserved, from her slumber to her appearance in this place. She gave those memories one more listen, taking each word reheard with a feeling as if they had been heard for the first time.

When she had reached the end of her experiences, Chacha opened her eyes and took a deep breath.

"Master, I appreciate everything that we did together." the gyroid whispered and gave both plushies a quick glance. "But now, this is goodbye."

Tears began to roll down her face as she slowly approached the plushie on the far left.

"I know you might never hear the words I'm saying here, but I don't care."

She gave the plushie a hug and casually set it back down. Afterwards, she slowly made her way towards the far right plushie.

"But as long as I hold the memory of you and everyone within my heart, they'll live on."

She then wrapped her arms around the other plush, making sure that it too felt the extent of her love.

Once the deed was done, Chacha returned to the middle of the circle and stared up towards the sky. The unease seemed to dissipate with the wind, leaving behind what remained of the warm feeling. As this happened, a portal opened up in front of her.

"Goodbye, master." she whispered and walked through, cracking a smile on the way out…

.

Joey opened his eyes.

Currently, the shadow scientist found himself back on Alternis V2, standing in Shade's lab.

Yet, there was something different this time. A sense of life seemed to fill the area as an old man hobbled his way over.

"Dad?" Joey called out as he ran towards the man, who decided to wrap his arms around him when the two reached each other.

"Yep, it's me." Shade whispered and took a step back. "Want to help your old man with one last project before he dies, 'again'?"

* * *

Notes:

And so begins possibly the longest arc in DAO.

The only thing left on the cutting floor was an end bit related to Yokozamon. But we'll seeing that later.

.

Next Time: A father and son project for the sake of the digitalverse's future...


	82. A Father-Son Project

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 82

A Father-Son Project

Shade Alkruz had known his days were numbered for quite some time.

The moment that Julie had brought those two 'golems' had signaled the start of his fall. He didn't even ask her what sort of things she had done to them like he usually did, suspecting that he didn't want to know.

They were his focus, his crowning achievement. Even greater than both Nora and Lazuli in both craftsmanship and independence.

Yet, whereas Nora at least was able to pass himself off as human and Lazuli could at least disguise herself as someone else if such a situation called for it (which still didn't explain why a couple hundred pound whale would need their soul placed into a robot body).

The next blow was dealt by Chaos of all people, who had somehow managed to piece the puzzle together. Or perhaps she had taken a shot in the dark. Either way, it was a cold water splash that he needed for some time.

After attempting to make a return and getting cleared by Cora medical-wise, he had went back to his lab and hatched a plan. At best, it was a lucky shot, seemingly impossible to make happen once, much less twice. At worst, he was dooming himself to a slow and painful death. He had spent quite a number of nights just agonising over this one decision than he had to anything related to his career.

Yet he stared down at his foster child, a feeling of wasted time and unseen possibilities seemed to whisper back into him.

"Dad?" Joey called out and watched Shade take a deep breath. "Something wrong?"

Shade didn't answer and focused on the ground.

"Let's get to work." the order scientist remarked, only for Joey to stand there and just stare at him. "What? Is there something wrong, Joey?"

"Yes." Joey answered and took a deep breath. "This is possibly the last time we might see each other and you just want to jump straight into the work?"

Shade refocused his gaze back to Joey and let out a sigh. In a way, the boy was probably right. There was still time before he would reach his predestined end. What harm could there be in at least giving themselves a chance to make up for all the time they had lost.  
"Fine." Shade whispered and motioned for Joey to follow. "But you have to keep up."

Joey gave a nod and the two made their way over to a table. There a large piece of blueprint paper sat, having already been labeled with the basic drawing started.

Mira

"Personally, I would've chosen Alice for the name." Shade remarked as he picked up a stray piece of chalk off the table and handed it over to his son. "But that was the name that the client wanted for some reason."

He took a deep breath and looked towards Joey, who was currently focusing on the large somehow visible scar from Shade's only appearance on Tri Abridged.

"So, how did you get into this mess. The last time I heard anything about your whereabouts, you had been shipped off to Truth or Consequences."

Joey laughed and took a deep breath.

"Funny story." he explained and stared back towards Shade…

.

It had started with a ten hour drive down the I-25 from the quiet place known as Truth or Consequences to the bright jewel within the sand known as Las Vegas.

For Joey though, a feeling of indifference hung over him. His 'parents' were currently sitting up front, with him and his six 'siblings'. He didn't care enough to remember their names or what they had even looked like. They were just blank faces in the crowd, bored and uncaring to the world. The only real thing of note, was babble about some place called 'Medreth' and 'spin' stories about its heroes. They would talk about the relationship between a faerie performer and a gyroid trickster, about a goblin 'knight' and his search for the village he had lived in, to the catgirl mimic merchant with a habit of cleansing those less fortunate than her, even questionable tales about an incubus somehow managing to charm himself and a seemingly regular human boy who had cheated death. They spoke of what brought them together, a search for someone known simply as 'the one' while on training to become licensed to the medic's guild. Mentions of other world were mixed in as well, those parts were vague and dodgy at best.

Occasionally though, they would also made reference to a digimon series with app-based digimon. Which compared to his whole 'medreth' stuff, seemed slightly more farfetched. There were all sorts of obscure and unique digimon for the taking, yet they want to design almost 170 new ones for some reason. Heck, even the whole app fusing concept meant that you had to design twice as many 'appmon' in order to get the required result. It was both wasteful and counter-intuitive to the show itself.

By the time the lights of Las Vegas finally came into view, Joey was more than ready to get out. As fun as the storytelling was listen to, there was so much a guy could take.

"Your mother and I are going to go check-in to the hotel." the father explained and gave his children and Joey a wave as the scientist pulled his backpack out. "Have fun."

And then they drove away, leaving them to their own devices. In a way, it was an odd yet satisfying situation to find oneself in. They could go wherever they wanted, within reason of course.

"Ready to go, bud?" Joey whispered as he poked his head into his back, finding a slumbering Tsukaimon inside and carefully pulled him out.

"I guess?" the purple pig remarked and slowly noticed that he was out of the bag. "Personally, I just want some tea and some time to spread my wings."  
"Let me some what I can do." he explained and made his way to the nearby McDonalds. They made their way inside, ignoring any potential looks they were getting from their entrance. An almost nonexistent line awaited them, with the sole register being manned by a teenage guy.

"Welcome to McDonalds. What can I get you?" the cashier greeted, only for his gaze to focus on Tsukaimon. "Crap. And I just got off psychiatric evaluation yesterday."

"Is there something wrong?" Joey inquired and watched the man take a deep breath and shift his focus back to the chosen.

"It's nothing." the cashier answered. "Just give me your order quick. I don't want a repeat of last time."

Joey gave a nod and made a quick glance up at the menu board.

"I'll take two cheeseburgers and some tea." he answered as the cashier punched his order in

"Your order number is 232."

Joey gave the person a confused glance, wondering if he had wandered into some weird alternate dimension. The last time he had checked, he had to pay for his meal. But considering what the cashier looked to be not right in the head at the moment, he accepted the receipt and the two made their way over to a nearby table.

"Well that was interesting…" Tsukaimon remarked and pull his teacup out, setting it down on the table. "He seems to have some sort of experience dealing with digimon."

"That or he's just crazy." Joey answered and pulled his notes out, giving them a quick scan. For a while he had been doing quite good, but now was seeming to run into dead ends. A change of perspective was possibly in order, but where exactly he wasn't quite sure. Of course, his train of thought got cut off by their food arriving.

"I don't think we ordered a computer disk though." Joey pointed out, but got no response from the cashier. He picked the object up and gave it a quick examination. Outside of a black sharpie label in the form of 'Digital Adventures Online', it looked most plain discs. Yet, someone had decided to leave instructions for it.

"I'm fairly certain that most kids are capable of using a disk loader." Joey whispered as he slipped the disc into his pocket. The two then chowed down on their meal, unaware of it being their last in the human world. "It's worth a shot at least."

After making their way out of the restaurant, they went searching for a quiet and out of the way place to try their new 'toy' out. This was surprisingly harder than one would expect it to be, with this being Vegas after all. One would expect to find at least one disk drive out on the street, happy to provide its services to those in need. Somehow, they ran into a person wearing a very faithful etemon costume. Heck, the guy even sounded just like Etemon for some reason. They would have taken the time to chat, but he got mad when he found out neither of them had a friend banana sandwich for him.

"This better be it." Joey whispered as the two made their way towards to a small abandoned home amid the many famous structures that made up this city. After opening the strangely unlocked door, the duo found themselves in a single room in the dark. A sense of comfort rushed over them, multiplied by the discovery of a disk drive to complete their objective.

"Ready for this?" Joey inquired and Tsukaimon gave a nod. "Good. There's no time like the present."

He slipped the disk in and watched it get accepted. Seconds later, the world began to spin around and the two were gone…

.

"And that's how I got involved in this mess." Joey finished and looked down at the blueprint. While by no means perfect, it was more than clear enough for the average person to follow. "So how about you, dad?"

Shade took a deep breath, only to sigh.

"I'm just some asshole scientist who chose to keep making the same mistakes instead of learning from his fuck-ups." the order scientist answered as his grip on the chalk seemed to slowly give way. "I left you behind for what I thought was a better future. But look at me. I'm nowhere near good enough to be your dad."

Shade collapsed to the floor, only to find Joey's arms wrapped around him.

"Not yet." Joey whispered as he felt Shade's life slowly fade from him. "I still haven't told you about my adventures…"

Shade only laughed, cracking one more smile as his eyes slid shut.

"You can come out now." he whispered and Joey turned around, finding a certain redhead standing behind him. "Chaos."

"Yep, it's little old me." the white mage greeted and took a deep breath. "No hard feelings?"

Shade gave a nod as Joey let go, watching as the last little bit left the one person he saw as family.

"I'm sorry for your loss." Chaos whispered and made a quick glance towards Joey. "I realize that we might not see eye-to-eye on this and that's alright. Life continues on. What does matter is how you choose to honor his legacy."

Joey didn't answer, choosing instead to give the table his focus. While he planned to take the white mage's words to heart, he needed a much better picture of who his foster dad was. In a way, he had hoped this meeting would be the cure. But the picture remained fuzzy.

"Thanks, I guess." he whispered, not at all noticing a faint white fingerprint in the place of where the blueprints had been. "See you around, I guess?"

"See you around." Chaos answered and watched the shadow scientist get teleported away...

.

As he stood within the ashes of his former abode, Olrumon wasn't quite sure what to think.

On one hand, it felt like a blessing to be able to maybe pull some salvageable piece out of the rubble. Yet, he knew it would last.

"Let's make this quick." he thought and got to searching...

* * *

Notes:

Well, I didn't intend for this to be quite as long as it turned out to be. The original plan was to flesh out Shade, which I got partway too. Then it turned into a Joey chapter and then Shade died.

And yes, the cashier is the same one who took Alpha's order in Project Digital. Also, there is a Las Vegas in New Mexico for some reason.

Feel free to speculate.

.

Next Time: Shifting through the ashes of a world that never seems to let go...


	83. Ashes to Ashes

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 83

Ashes to Ashes

"I'm home!"

It felt odd for Olrumon to be saying those two words. In a way, to say that such a place existed for him seem counter to his all travels with Aaron.

But as he said that, the pile of rubble began to shift about and repair itself. In a matter of seconds, the house was back in its proper state. Though, the rabbit idol doubted it would last long. Never did seem too in this wretched place. This has been his first home, which he had bought with all the money he had saved up from the past couple years of doing odd jobs.

Olrumon took one more deep breath and headed towards the door, wiping his feet at the door mat when he got there.

"Bring it, Blade and Lily." Olrumon whispered as he watched a chopper slowly approach. A boy and girl pair sat upon it.

"This is the place." the boy announced as he got off, attempting to make it look like two people. "We should take this as a chance to rest."

He made their way towards the door, only to notice Olrumon.

'Would you mind if we spent an hour or two resting at your house?" the boy remarked as Olrumon began to lightly hum.

 **Boulder Song!**

A large rock came forth, knocking the boy back towards his bike.

"Why did you just do that?" the person announced as he pulled a pair of shinkens out. He then chose to charge towards the rabbit idol, possibly hoping that Olrumon would sidestep away and let him head inside.

 **Boulder Song!**

Once more, a large rock appeared above Olrumon, which he sent at the target once again. Only to watch the rock get torn to pieces against the metal blades.

"Crap." Olrumon mumbled and charged towards the boy, slamming his head into the chest area. "Lily's gone! It's just you and me now, fighting over something long forgotten and meaningless."

The boy didn't answer and chose to kick the rabbit out of the way and followed it up with a fireball.

 **Cleansing Melody!**

Olrumon began to hum a different tune, feeling any potential wounds fade away as the fireball passed over him and into his house. He made a quick glance towards his former abode, taking a deep breath afterwards. He wanted to facepalm in response to this, but a gunshot dashed that idea.

"I found you." a voice called out as a man dressed in a black suit with a pair of csi miami glasses. Outside of his ghostly pale skin, the only other thing of note was his head of short reddish orange hair and the. "This is where your journey ends, you two."

"That's what you think!" the boy announced and ran into the slowly burning home as Olrumon reluctantly followed right behind.

Inside, the house was slightly bigger than portrayed outside. Not only did it somehow contain three bedrooms, someone had thrown in a kitchen, two bathrooms, a living room and a basement as well. Somehow, the fire hadn't even reached the inside yet.

"Uh… Thanks?" Olrumon remarked and watched the boy pick a note off the couch. While he had been fairly certain that things were in their best mostly clean condition, time hadn't been factored into his quick and sudden departure back then. "Please leave."

"Why?"

Olrumon took a step forward, slamming his right paw down into the floor.

"Because this is my house." he started and focused his gaze on the opponent. "And you're currently trespassing."

The boy took a deep breath, pointing his blades towards Olrumon. But just as quickly as they were raised, they fell to his sides.

"Can I have a hug?" he finally whispered and knelt down at Olrumon's level.

"Sure." Olrumon answered and wrapped his arms around the boy. "I've gotten ahead of myself. I'm Olrumon, the owner of the ever-destroyed house we're currently sitting in."

"Blade." the boy whispered as the two let go. "It's been too long since someone not tied to this place."

He made a glance down at the ground as tears began to fall down.

"I'm guessing your Lily is gone?"

Blade gave a nod, giving Olrumon a interested glance afterwards.

"Wait. How do you know of my friend?" Blade inquired as he watched the rabbit idol give a sigh.

"I met a version of her in my travels."

"Oh." Blade whispered. "How is she doing?"

"Quite well, if the last time I saw her is anything to go by." Olrumon answered as the two made their way towards the kitchen. "If you don't mind me asking, how exactly did you find my house along with the rest of the village?"

Silence fell upon both of them, letting the gunshots outside fade away with the winds. Their gazes met, one of pity, one of sorrow. Occasionally, the expression would slightly change but the meaning stayed the same. They stayed like this for a couple of minutes, refusing to break away from each other as the house continued its slow burn.

"I understand now." Olrumon whispered as he took a deep breath. "That wasn't your intention. I wish I knew that then."

Blade placed his hand on Olrumon's back, giving it a pat.

"Let's finish this." Blade whispered and stood back up. "Do you think you can help me in place of EMT?"

Olrumon gave a nod as the two made their way towards the door, where their opponent still stood.

"It's good to see that you're both not cowards." the opponent announced, only to find a boulder hurling right towards him. "Hey!"

He got no answer to that question, taking a fireball to the chest instead.

"That does it."

Their opponent then pulled out a bigger gun and proceeded to fire around the area.

"Does he usually get like this?" Olrumon whispered as his gaze focused back on Blade, only to catch a quick glimpse of a pair of cloaked figures.

"Yeah." Blade answered and took a deep breath. "It possibly stress from being on the same day for what seemed like forever."

The two then charged forth, making an effort not to get hit with gunfire from what appeared to be a modified uzi.

 **Boulder Song!**

Olrumon began to hum a short tune and launched forth a boulder at the target as Blade made a foolhardy charge at the guy. At best it was a stalemate, with neither party seeming to gain the upper hand.

"Need some help, honcho?" a voice called out as Hera and Death landed, cocky smiles plastered on their faces.

"Not from you assfucks, I don't." 'Honcho' answered as he made an attempt at spraying the two former assistants with bullets and failed. "Crap. Where's that stupid troll when you need him?"

"In that case, I can show you a new party trick I learned." Death announced and pulled her scythe out. She muttered something under her breath as everyone watched shift into two handed sword. Which, I don't remember giving to her at all.

"Here's something that we don't remember telling you to do." Hera snarled and proceeded to flip the sky off. "You getting to live."  
For that, she got silence as a response. There really wasn't much use in fuelling either girl's hate of him at the moment.

"Whatever, fuckface." Death muttered and charge towards Honcho, only to find herself locking blades with Blade. "I hope you fall down a pit for that stupid pun!"

As that happened, Honcho was flinging grenades at Hera. One would think this was the way to go when dealing with former assistants like these two, but it wasn't in this case.

"That tickles!" Hera announced and kicked the grenade back towards the thrower, watching it blow up mid-roll. "Crap. Way to kill the mood!"

 **Boulder Song!**

A large rock then slammed into her, forcing the former assistant back a couple feet.

"Leave." Olrumon shouted as the fire behind him seemed to increase in intensity. "That's your one and only warning."

The rabbit idol hadn't quite realized what he had just said, slightly scaring himself in the process.

"Oopsy."

Blade was then flung at Olrumon, now sporting a large hole through his chest.

"Oh the irony." Death mocked and charged towards Olrumon. "Run along, little bunny. Alice is right behind you!"

Olrumon launched off one more boulder and headed off, not at all noticing it smash into Honcho's skull and kill him. No, he gave his burning home one last goodbye as a portal swallowed him up…

.

Elena was stuck.

And not in the whole, 'stuck in a endless tunnel dream' sort of way, though she would've slightly prefered it at that particular moment.

No, she found herself in stuck in an oversized birdcage with some kind of mouse creature wearing what appeared to be an idol costume.

"It'll be alright." she whispered and took a deep breath…

* * *

Notes:

A bit of a shorter chapter this time, especially as I get ready for Tri Abridged.

.

Next Time: Letters through the gilded cage...


	84. Papermoon: Elena's Side

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 84

Papermoon: Elena's Side

Out of all the places Elena had found herself in in the past couple years, an oversized birdcage was not on that. Though, she had heard that possibility thrown out a couple of times in the short time she had spent at high school.

The cage in question looked like something out of Looney Tunes but much bigger. When she gazed upwards towards the top of it, her eyes could just barely make out the top of it. Elena was fairly certain that she would either run out of energy or find that her captor had installed some weird 'device' that prevented from reaching such an altitude. So she turned her attention to the brass bars of her prison, staring out into a grayish white sky. Or void. It was kind of hard to really tell which one it actually was.

"If you're done talking about this truly wonderful prison, can you focus on me?" a voice announced and Elena turned around, focusing on the yellow mouse creature dressed in a short pink top with a matching skirt. A large pink bow hung on its gigantic left ear while a pair of pink flats sat on the creature's tiny feet.

"And who might you possibly be?" the gale corsair inquired, only to have her cellmate give a sigh.

"I am Daisy, cosplay idol extraordinaire." the mouse greeted as she held her left 'hand' by her face, attempting to emulate something she had probably seen out of some obscure anime. "You there!"

"Yes?" Elena answered and focused in on the creature.

"Would you kindly be a good girl and just die for me?"

The gale corsair gave Daisy a confused glance, unsure if she had heard the mouse right.  
"Uh… no?"

She then broke her focus away from the mouse and turned it to what appeared to be a large stack of lined paper and a box of sharpened pencils.

"I know." Elena thought as she sat herself down beside the stack, grabbing herself a piece of paper and one of the pencils. "Now, who should it be for?"

She closed her eyes and cycled through the various people in her team. But try as she might, it almost always seemed to be whittled down to Alice, with just one attempt going to Lily for some reason.

 _Deer Alice,_

While her penmanship and spelling skills were very rusty, she wasn't quite sure if it should be 'Alice' or 'Miss Zwingli' to start it off. But considering where they respectively felt their relationship was, the former probably made more sense in this context.

While she was working on her letter, Daisy decided to approach.

"Whatcha writing?" the mouse inquired as they made their way over to the gale corsair, who gave them a confused glance. "Hopefully, it's fan mail for me."

Elena gave the mouse a confused glance, possibly unsure what she was even talking about. But before she could ask her question, Daisy snatched the piece of letter away and looked over what little the gale corsair had written. "Oh, you're writing to your girlfriend. Of course. What else would would the lesbian be writing too,

"Lesbian?" Elena inquired and gave Daisy some attention, unsure of how this conversation would go. "Uh… What's that?"  
The mouse took a deep breath and sighed. She had hoped that Elena would at least sort of understand the word to describe her 'friendship' with Alice.

"Basically, it means you're a female who likes other females." the mouse explained as Elena watched on. "In some universes, this is a frowned upon thing. Here I guess it's encouraged. Is that clear?"

"Yes."

 _Deer Alice,_

 _Currently, I am stuck in a oversized bird cage with a yelow mouse creature dressed in some sort of pink outfit. I writie this letter in the hopes that it gets to u. How are u doing? Where are u? Is there somewhere that you want to meet once we get out of here?_

 _With lots of love and a kiss,_

 _-Elena_

Very carefully, the gale corsair made her way towards the bars of the bird cage and folded her letter into a makeshift paper airplane. She then flung the letter out, watching it sail down towards the abyss below.

"Now, I just have to wait." Elena whispered and returned her gaze to the mouse. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." Daisy whispered, only to attempt to give the gale corsair's leg a kiss. But Elena stepped to the right to prevent that.

"What even are you?"

The mouse only laughed and made a second attempt at kissing her target. This time, Elena jumped over her.

"I'm one of those pouch creatures that are somehow still popular with the kids these days."

"Oh." Elena answered and gave Daisy a quick look over. "Though, you do look like a plush I got a while back."

Daisy laughed once more and chose to focus on the outside of the cage.

"Well, I'll tell you this. I'm not that plush."

The gale corsair then took a deep breath and switched forms, curling herself into a ball afterwards. She closed her eyes, allowing sleep to take her away.

In her dream, she found herself falling in what seemed to be an endless tunnel. It was kind of boring, with the tunnel just seeming to contain nothing but emptiness and the occasional graffiti that said 'Sir D-Bag wuz here' or 'The Five Worlds must connect'. Eventually, the tunnel opened up and emptied out into a classroom. The classroom looked a lot like others shown in this multiverse, with a hardwood floor and tan felt walls. A variety of nondescript art was strewn about the area, but with no way to actually identify the art in question or the artists who had made it. One of those interactive 'smartboards' sat at the front and seemed ready to be interacted with. Currently, the teacher was displaying the various ways to break a same sex relationship.

Rows of desks had been placed in front of it, with a student holding each one as their own. That somehow didn't stop them from voicing their opinion though.

"Go fuck yourself, Elena."

"You're a useless piece of shit."

"I hope both you and that stupid slut kill yourself."

"Just die already!"

Of course, the teacher was 'Jestery'. Well, if you were sitting about a mile away and were looking through a pair of shitty binoculars that is. At best, it looked like a puppet that had been used in a variety of questionable propaganda posters and or videos for the past couple years and was now starting to show it's age. Parts of the white skin were chipping, while the clothes had somehow gone from blue and orange to black and yellow. The hair was a similar story, losing the mess of pink and purple in favor of whitish pink hair.

"Okay..." Elena whispered and watched as 'Jestery' turn around to face the board. Somehow, this was the cue for the 'students' get up from their seats and head towards her. "Get away from me!"

Yet they didn't listen. Instead, they seemed to move faster towards her. Elena only stood there and closed her eyes, possibly telling herself that it would be alright. All she wanted to do at that moment was wake up from this dream and cast it out of her mind. But that wish never did seem to be granted, with the horde surrounding her before she had a chance to even reach the door.

"Cast away those thoughts of sanity, dolly." they chanted as Elena switched to her hybrid form.

Memo-

She woke up before she finish saying her attack, finding Daisy currently attempting to use her tail spike to scratch the floor.

"Did anything interesting happen while I was sleeping?" Elena asked as she shifted back to her human form.

"Outside of you having such a wonderful dream, not really." the mouse responded and got a scowl from the gale corsair "I'm guessing it was far from wonderful then?"

"Are you always an asshole?" Elena inquired and got silence in return.

"Just shut up." Daisy snarled as electricity began to surge around her. "At least you have someone who legitimately cares about you!"

A ball of electricity then shot forth from the mouse and slammed into Elena, knocking her into the edge of the cage. Though, finding a paper airplane made from plain paper awaiting her there seemed to lessened the blow somewhat. Elena picked the airplane up and turned her attention to Daisy, who was currently crying and attempting to curl herself up into a ball.

"Is something wrong?" she asked and watched the mouse look up towards her and scowl.

"I just miss my master." Daisy whispered and took a deep breath. "I've been with him for so long that I forgotten what it's like to be without him."

"So you're lovers then?"

Silence fell upon the digitalverse for a few brief seconds in the hopes that the gale corsair would realize what she had just said.

"It is rude to look into a lady's love life, especially that of an idol." Daisy answered as sound returned to the digitalverse. "After all, I don't go poking my nose into your love life."

Elena gave her a cautious glance and muttered Daisy's response under her breath. Afterwards, she turned her attention to the paper airplane and unfolded it. Inside, was a neat note that looked to have been written by someone

 _Dear Miss Elena,_

 _I'm alright at the moment. While I currently don't know exactly where I am, Suiko has currently gone missing and my parents having decided 'taunting' is the best way to have a chat. Though, there is one thing that I would like to ask you. If you somehow get out of that birdcage before me, make some sort of marking that I'll be able to recognize and wait there. No matter what happens, I'll come find you. But should I be the one who gets out before you, I'll make a mark and wait for you. That way, we'll be able to find each other no matter what the destination is._

 _Lots of love and a kiss back,_

 _-Alice_

Elena held the letter close to her chest for a couple seconds and closed her eyes, attempting to visualize Alice write this particular letter. She grabbed a piece of lined paper from the pile and the pencil from before, ready to write a follow-up letter.

 _Dear Alice,_

 _I got yor message. While I am not quite sure how to exit this cage quite yet, there is a mouse 'thing' in a dress who has quite a nasty att_

Before she could finish writing that particular sentence, another ball of electricity slammed into her chest. While it fried her letter, the gale corsair was fine with it. She would just make a second attempt at writing it.

 _Dear Alice,_

 _I got your message and I'll go with your plan. While I'm not quite sure how to exit this cage quite yet, there's a mouse 'thing' in a dress who has quite bad manners who might know how. If you don't mind me asking, do you do have any other hobbies outside of gambling? I like to collect plushies and play board games._

 _Good luck and a kiss,_

 _Elena_

 _PS: This is my second attempt at writing this. The mouse destroyed my first attempt._

Compared to her previous completed letter, Elena's grammar actually seemed to be on par with a person around her age. Though that's not saying much, considering that the author has a tendency to let typos slip by.

After making sure that Daisy wouldn't shock her a third time, she folded her letter into another paper airplane and threw it out of the cage. Afterwards, she made a thin 'x-shaped' mark on the floor and switched to her hybrid form, ready to get some sleep.

Once more, Elena found herself in the classroom with the mocking children. Even as they shouted their words of hate and slander out, the gale corsair didn't listen, choosing instead to focus on the door out as she shifted to her human form. She sprinted to her destination and pulled the door open, finding herself in a long bland hallway with the usual gray carpet that seemed to alway find its way into this mess. Add in the felt covered walls that looked more at home in an office building than whatever she had found herself in. Of course, whoever was in charge of this 'dream sequence' had left behind a variety of speech bubbles to line the walls.

"Uh… who are you?" Elena inquired and watched the bubbles shift, which all decided to display 'Who are you?'. "Elena Yuliana, gale corsair."

The bubbles shifted once more, showing a mix of 'Gabe Tanaka' and 'Verena Tanaka'.

"So you're Alice Zwingli's parents then?" the gale corsair inquired and watch the bubbles shift to say a mix of 'maybe' and depends'. "Okay. So you're all her parents then?"

The bubbles shifted once more, deciding that displaying 'sure' was a good enough answer to such a complicated question. But for the moment, it would do the job. They then shifted to their default blank screen as Elena cleared her throat. Butterflies seemed ready to flutter throughout her entire body potentially tearing her apart. Yet the gale corsair didn't care at the moment.

"It's now or never." she thought and took one more deep breath. "I would like to take your daughter's hand in marriage."

Silence seemed to fall over the bubbles, as if such a possibility was to be ignored and forgotten by all involved. One by one, their answers appeared. And while not exactly what she had expected, it felt like some sort of miracle that only seems to happen once in a blue moon.

"I'll take it." Elena whispered and cracked a smile as her eyes shot open. The gale corsair was no longer stuck in the cage, having found herself in what appeared to be an oversized dollhouse. The walls looked to have been covered with some plain wallpaper, but now showed the bare untouched wood. The floor was a similar story, having once held onto many a beautiful carpet, but now it was the concrete's turn to shine. Any potential furniture that may have existed had been reduced to scrap and pushed out of the way, having already been judged as useless to the room.

Eight 'charred' bodies surrounded her, formed in the shape of a speech bubble. Daisy currently stood at the bottom tip of it, reading through what appeared to be Alice's latest letter.

"How cute, the birdie awakes." Daisy remarked as she scanned the piece of paper. "Savor these last pitiful moments of your life, you rubber bird slut. You won't be getting any more after this."

Elena did not answer, choosing instead to switch to her hybrid form.

 **Memory Spirits!**

A couple translucent figures shot forth from the gale corsair, homing in on the opponent. Daisy responded by enlarging her hand and slamming it into one. Of course, all that did was blow the attack up and catch her in the blast radius.

"You little…" Daisy whispered and opened her mouth up, unleashing a very loud scream towards Elena. Yet, the gale corsair chose to charge towards the mouse, knocking her opponent up into the air and leave the letter to flutter about. She then switched back to her human form, gripping the piece of paper tightly in her hands. "You'll pay for this, mark my fucking words!"

Yet, Elena didn't listen. Instead, she chose to walk away and focus on Alice's letter.

 _Dear Miss Elena,_

 _To answer your question. I like to read and travel. And while that sort of stuff may seem more exciting than collecting plushies or playing board games, they are just important. I am probably gone now, but there is still a chance for our paths to cross once more. I wish you the best of luck and hope that we meet up again soon._

 _Good luck and a kiss back,_

 _Alice_

 _PS: I have something special for you when I meet up. So don't dillydally! ;)_

The gale corsair cracked a smile and slipped the note into her pocket, exiting the room in the process. While she was sad that she didn't any more paper to write a response back, it was a small thing that could be deal with later. A portal then appeared and pulled her in, dropping the gale corsair off onto the roof of a large building. A cityscape awaited below as other buildings threatened to take away from the view of a mountain at ground level. But that wasn't what Elena was focusing on at the moment.

After taking a moment to remember Alice's instructions, she dug through her pockets in search of something to make a mark. After a spending a couple minutes doing that, an idea came to her.

"Here goes nothing." Elena thought and pulled her kris out as she walked towards

 **Gale Strike!**

She then jumped off the edge, slamming her blades down into the wall. What followed was the carving of a simple shape that Elena hoped that Alice would be able to recognize.

But as she reached the ground unharmed, a feeling of warmth came over her.

"There you are!" a voice called out as Alice ran up, only to drop down on one knee and hold out a box in her hand. "Elena Yuliana, will you marry me?"

* * *

Notes:

Oh my. Things are getting interesting.

Somehow, this will probably be the second longest chapter that I'll write this year.

The name of this chapter is in reference to the song 'Papermoon' from Soul Eater.

.

Next Time: Someone you thought dead, but who's still alive somehow.


	85. Thank you, Sir D-Bag

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 85

Thank you, Sir D-Bag

Officer EMT was used to running into people that he knew.

It was one of the few perks of being an internet police officer. Well, that and the occasional free donut for good work.

Yet as EMT stood within the ruins of what had once been a 'mail facility', memories of other things seemed to come back to him. While by no means horrible, they were the sort of things that were more minor than major.

"Dang side job." he whispered as an orange beam of light streaked past him, with the troll answering back with a missile.

"Suprise! It's me." a voice called out and an angel floated over. Unlike the ones seen in Alternis v2 or the Digital World, this one looked to have gone through hell. It's armor was blackened and cracks seemed to trail all about, criss-crossing across the suit. The helmet seemed ready to explode, with the cross falling off some time ago. Oil leaked down from the head, where the faint markings of a knife wound could still be seen.

"Who are you?" EMT whispered as he looked over the angel once more, giving the air a slight sniff as he did. It faintly smelled of burnt toast and a bit of gunpowder, with just a trace of blood and duct tape thrown in for good measure. "Sir D-Bag, isn't it?"

"The one and only." Sir D-Bag answered and held his chest out in all his truly 'wonderful' glory. "I'm amazed you had the balls to even come here. I always thought you would be too chic-"

A right hook slammed into the bottom half of the idiot's skull, with Officer EMT taking a deep breath.

"Shut up." the troll whispered and took a deep breath. "Just because I wrote a couple letters for them does not make me their political advisor."

"You're right. But I don't care." Sir D-Bag answered as he went for an uppercut. "Since it's not 'my right', it doesn't matter."

For some reason, he followed it up with a chuckle. It was the sort of chuckle that made one want to smash the person lights in and be done with them. But, EMT reluctantly held back the urge to do just that and took a deep breath instead.

"Care to tell me what happened here?" the troll police officer inquired and got a smirk in return.

"Why?"

Sir D-Bag found a missile launcher pointed towards his face, with Officer EMT's finger right already on the trigger.

"Do it."

EMT fired the weapon off, watching the immediate explosion occur and knock both of them back. Almost to coincide with his frustrations, Sir D-Bag continued to chuckle.

"What a shame this has been." Sir D-Bag taunted. "I had really hoped by now you would've seen my handywork."

Officer EMT gave the asshole a confused glance, almost afraid what he was even talking about. Yet, he continued to keep his gaze focused on Sir D-Bag.

"I guess it would be better to show than to go through all of it in excruciating detail."

Sir D-Bag then walked to the far edge of the ruins and motioned for Officer EMT to follow. The troll officer reluctantly followed behind as thoughts of uncertainty seemed to fill his head. For all he knew, this guy could be attempting to lead him to a fairly unremarkable death with very little to stop him.

"Don't be so wary." Sir D-Bag remarked. "We can save those sort of wonderful things till later."

"Just stop." EMT whispered as he reached Sir D-Bag. "I realize you probably see yourself as the 'hot shit' or something. But you're not."

Sir D-Bag didn't listen, choosing instead to grab hold of the troll and jump off the floating mass of land. What followed was actually quite graceful landing down in what appeared to be a grayscale beach under an overcast sky. Corpses and shattered digi-eggs were scattered about the sand, with mix of blood and digital data added in for good effect. Of course, that all paled in comparison to the large hole in the sky that led off into some unknown space.

"After you used me your boring rocket jump, the angels found me." Sir D-Bag announced and followed it up with a massive grin, not that EMT would have really noticed. Mostly since he decided to focus his attention on a soggy paper butterfly instead of the asshole moving his mouth and making words you people didn't even care about.

"Get to the point." EMT snarled as he slipped the butterfly into his pocket. "I don't have all day."

"Fine, fine." Sir D-Bag answered and puffed his chest out. "I was asked to end this petty conflict however I see fit. So I did just that, killing everyone and blowing their bases up for good measure."

Officer EMT continued to ignore this guide, choosing instead to focus all his attention on the hole in the sky. Off the top of his head, he remembered hearing about only one other hole like this, but it was of a tale that may have never even happened in this timeline/dimension.

"But since I'm showing you this now, it wasn't quite effective enough to get your attention."

Officer EMT's glance snapped back onto Sir D-Bag, who still had his chest puffed out.

"My attention?" he inquired as his gaze seemed ready to break away. "What is so important about my attention that you would go through something like this?"

Sir D-Bag took a deep breath, but didn't answer. Instead, he grabbed hold of the troll and shot upwards from the beach. The two then found themselves hurtling through the vast yet empty dimensional space, only for the douche to decide that fiery landing into a heavily wooded area was the best idea in the world at the moment.

"I hope you recognize this place, EMT." Sir D-Bag announced as he threw the troll into a nearby tree.

Officer EMT carefully peeled himself off and sighed.

"It's Bonessa." he whispered, watching a grin form on Sir D-Bag's face. "Why?"

"Go on."

Officer EMT took a deep breath and debated just shooting the asshole right here. But considering how they just barely managed to avoid setting the whole forest on fire just mere seconds ago, he decided to hold off on that and took a deep breath.

"The silent treatment, huh?" Sir D-Bag taunted as his grin even wider somehow. "There were some people who've been missing you. They had asked me to find and bring you back. Of course, they never did where exactly that they wanted to meet you…"

Warning bells began ringing off in Officer EMT's head, with him deciding to pull his kukuris out instead of his usual rocket launcher.

"You killed them, didn't you?" he whispered and got a laugh in return. "ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!"

Yet, Sir D-Bag had no answer. Even if he had, Officer EMT doubted it would even be satisfactory for this situation.

He then charged towards the douchebag and jumped into the air, stabbing one of his blades into the head wound.

"Pathetic." Sir D-Bag remarked and shot a beam of orange light out of his fist. Officer EMT dodged to the right, flinging his other kukuri into the portion of the armor where the cracks met. "Is that the best you got?"

Officer EMT pointed his missile launcher towards Sir D-Bag and loaded a single missile. He then fired the weapon off, watching the green colored projectile reach its target and do it's job. Afterwards, he grabbed hold of his stupid opponent and began to slowly drag him down the dirt covered grounds. Along the way, he greeted those who crossed his path and wished them a good day,

It was when the dirt gave way to to a cobblestone path that brought the two into what one could call a 'town square'. Though, judging by the piles of rubble that were once houses for the residents

Yet, Officer EMT left Sir D-Bag there, focusing his attention on the large building that stood in front of the fountain. Compared to the other buildings, it was still somehow intact. Though, the troll police officer suspected that this was more on purpose than anything else.

Sir D-Bag casually opened the door and headed in, choosing to focus his gaze on what was ahead of him rather than the room itself. Which in this case, was a long corridor lined with the busts of those who had passed on. The actual defining features of the hall itself weren't that interesting, just a boring stained oak floor and white plaster walls. Eventually that corridor opened up, revealing a large open room where a pair of corpses laid. The one on the right appeared to be a male troll with a bigger mustache than his. Like him, he was dressed in a police uniform. The one on the left was a female troll in the later stages of her life. A bar of rebar stuck through their chests, bent to make it look like the rods were crossing. It probably would've helped if Sir D-Bag had taken some time to do some interior decorating, since the family had decided to continue the white walls and the stained hardwoods into this particular room.

"I'm home." he whispered and strapped the missile launcher to his back. "I'm sorry it's been too long. I've been busy."

He took his cap off, holding it to his chest as he stared down towards his parents.

"Wherever I went, I attempted to help people to the best of my people." Officer EMT whispered as he sat himself down. "Sometimes, I was successful. Other times, it was far from the case."

He took a deep breath and sighed, not at noticing the tears rolling down his face. While the troll officer wasn't entirely sure how many years it had been since he had even stepped foot in this house, not it mattered right now in the slightest.

"Along the way, I met all sorts of people. Some of them became my friends, other's the one who I had to face down."

He sighed and turned his glance to a nearby wall. A variety of newspaper articles hung there, waiting to be read for the umteenpth time. A majority were about a mysterious green-skinned figure helping out those in need. And while not every article painted this person in the greatest light, it didn't matter to them. This was their little window into the life of Officer EMT, from the comforts of these four walls.

"Thanks, mom and dad."

Officer EMT slipped his cap on and cracked a smile, saluting both of them. Afterwards, he made his way outside and grabbed his kukri out of Sir D-Bag.

"Come back!" the douchebag screamed, but he got no answer and could only watch as EMT rocket-jumped his way back to the floating island. "There's still more that I want to talk to you about…"

But, Officer EMT continued onwards for about an hour, the sound of explosives going off being his soundtrack. Once he had finally reached his destination, he gave the ruins here one last look and headed towards his armored vehicle.

"Thank you, Sir D-Bag." he whispered and started the engine up, only to drive right through a portal…

.

Lily opened her eyes.

Currently, the plush succubus found herself underground, surrounded by miniature huts.

"Ugh." she thought and pulled herself up. "I'm back here again."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could just make out what appeared to be Elena.

"Come here, Lily." 'she' called out…

* * *

Notes:

First chapter post finishing the rough draft of the finale Tri Abridged. Overall, I liked how this turned out.

.

Next time: I just want someone to care about me...


	86. Clingy Ends

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 86

Clingy Ends

Lily took a deep breath.

Even as she ran towards 'Elena', the succubus knew that it wasn't her. Ever since what had happened in Bonessa, her attention had been focused on that stupid gambler. Or maybe it was just more apparent then than it had been in the past.

Either answer was good enough in her book.

"You're almost there, Lily!" the illusion shouted as the plush succubus cautiously approached, pulling her yumi up in the process. "Good job!"

She fired her yumi off, watching the arrow pierce through and force it to either disappear entirely or teleport to another spot of the map.

"Figures." Lily whispered and sat herself down, choosing to take the time to observe her surroundings. At the far edge of the clusters of the huts appeared to be an exit, or perhaps the entrance. "What's the point of this?"

She got no answer to her question.

"Of course."

She closed her eyes, trying to visualize someone, something to put her at ease. But all she saw were people with their own commitments and empty chairs that should've been filled.

"Why, why, why?" Lily whispered as she slammed her hands against the floor. "Why can't I seem to get someone who cares?"

She focused in on the huts, searching for any potential inhabitants.

"It's a titan!"

"AHHH!"  
"Get away from us!"  
Lily made a glance towards the ground, holding her hand out in the process.

"You there!"

What appeared to be a tiny snowman jumped up, staring up towards Lily.

"Yes?" Lily whispered and brought the little guy up. "Is there anything you need from me?"

"Why of course, citizen." the snowman answered and pointed towards. "We've come to kill you and take the digital tome."

Lily gave the pile of snow a confused glance, unsure how to react. While they made their motive clear, it was kind of hard to take something so small seriously. She carefully flung the initial snowman onto the ground, pulling her yumi off her back in the process.

 **Incense Burn!**

She dropped an incense stick to the ground, giving it a quick stomp. Reddish brown smoke surrounded her, filling her with a sense of reminder of all that she had fought for.

 **Yumi Barrage!**

Lily cocked arrow after arrow back, making sure that not a single one of these potential assassins got a chance to kill her or take her tome.

"Did you really think you could kill us?" the snowman answered as they retreated away from Lily, only to gather in one spot and fuse into one large snowman.

"All we want is your love." the snowman greeted. "But you were always so busy, focusing on the others over me."

The snowman flung a ball of white towards Lily, only for the succubus to dodge it.

"Well, I'm here now." she answered and watched the snowman laugh.

"You say that, but do you believe it?"

Silence filled the area, with neither party quite willing to even make eye contact as the incense faded away. Lily debated snapping another one, but didn't want to deal with the effects at the moment. Eventually, she gave into the temptation and returned her attention to the snowman. Only now, she was staring a copy of her. Well, if she had an actual 'human' body and had decided to wear her dress instead of her kimono.

"Is this one of those 'you're me' sort of things?" Lily remarked and rolled her eyes, only for the doppelganger to laugh.

"Would it help if I said no?" the doppelganger answered and took a step forward, only to use the now decreased space to gaze intently at the original.

"Sure."

Lily pulled her yumi up, cautiously putting an arrow in. But try as she might, she couldn't go through with it.

"You've grown soft, almost boring to some extent." the doppelganger taunted. "You had this huge wonderland and you chose to give it all away."

"Shut up!"

Lily charged towards the copy, swinging her bow towards the opponent. Mid-swing, the arrow felt out but she didn't notice. Especially since the attack only managed to fling her back.

"We're always searching for that white rabbit, never seeming to quite catch it. You thought you had caught your's, only to watch it slip right through your fingertips."

Lily didn't answer and took a couple steps back, picking up the dropped arrow in the process. She then cocked it back, only to watch the projectile pass right through her doppelganger.

"Just leave me alone!" the plush succubus screamed, only for the doppelganger to revert to its gooey form.

"Why?"

Both of the 'Lily' stared at each other, unwilling to break away.

"Because you wanted someone to love you." the doppelganger remarked and 'jumped' onto Lily. "And that's what I'm here for. To love you. To make you whole again."

Yet, the succubus pushed the nuisance away, having had more than enough of her antics. She then focused in on the stairs and quickly made her way towards them, not at all caring what exactly happened to the doppelganger. While it would've possibly given her what she wanted, it was the sort of thing that seemed too good to be true. Lily gave the doppelganger one last glance at jumped up the stairs, attempting to take two at a time as much as she could. But try as she might, the doppelganger refused to let its prey go. Somehow, it managed to make it's way up the stairs and towards her.

"Please don't go." it called out, but Lily chose to ignore it. "I just want to be your friend!"

As the doppelganger said that, Lily closed her eyes and dropped an incense stick in front of her. She gave it a quick stomp and cleared her head, focusing instead on those that she had met on this journey. At first, they were blurry and unrecognizable, as if the details did not matter at this point and one was going for the general shape of these people. But once all the general shapes had 'appeared', the details slowly filled themselves in. It started with the colors, which came in 'waves' for some reasons. Texture came next, having decided it would work much quicker than the previous two steps. Shading followed in its footsteps and made sure to slightly pick the pace up. Finally, was the finishing touches in the form of faces and hair. And while a lot of the details contained within this version of Delta didn't match up to their counterparts outside of here, the succubus was fine with it. They were her friends and to some extent, wannabe love interests. And while her journey had not led her to what she sought, Lily was more than willing to keep going in search of a potential destination.

Her eyes then shot open as she began to climb the steps at even faster pace than before. The doppelganger still followed right behind, but had started to fall behind in this race to the top.

Eventually the stairs gave way to an open area similar to the one they had just left. But unlike the lower level, it appeared that these huts had been constructed in order to accommodate either much larger or a wider variety of inhabitants. At the far end of the area, a pair of figures were about ready to take on a third person.

"Wait a minute…" Lily whispered and dashed over to a nearby hut, sticking her head slightly out in the process. "Is that me?"

She got no answer, but chose to charge towards the potential alternate self. Somehow, this didn't stop her from walking the short distance there. There she gave the people a quick onceover, only to focus on the northern figure.

It was a teenage girl, dressed in red. In a way, Lily was reminded of her old outfit to some extent. Of course, it gave her a questionable idea.

"Here it is. A spare copy." the succubus whispered and managed to grab hold of a leather-bound tome, only to be whisked away as she opened it…

.

Consligmon sighed.

He was used to finding himself in a variety of unique situations. It came with being a 'retired' mercenary and just time marching on.

"What will it be this time?" he whispered and made a glance down at the desk he was sitting at, finding a revolver along with a note.

Shoot me

* * *

Notes:

This chapter is kind of a mess, but that isn't anything new here.

Also, the scene at the end of the chapter before the preview is actually where Outlaws 'ends'. Which was more of a result of running out of time back then and moving onto other projects.

.

Next time: Just another day in the classroom...


	87. Freed from here

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 87

Freed from here

It been a long time since the classroom had been gifted guests. And while it couldn't really express how it felt at the moment, the room probably would have made some sort of celebratory sound.

But for the spy turkey currently tapped in here, it was anything but. He took a deep breath and searched for his gun, only to find it gone.

"Wonderful." Consligmon thought and took a deep breath afterwards. His focus then fell upon the pistol and the note, which seemed to just taunt him with each passing second. He carefully picked up the revolver, giving the barrel a slight push and watched it slide out. Currently, six bullets sat comfortably in the chamber and awaited their use. Afterwards, he slid the chamber back in and returned his attention to the note.

Shoot Me

Very carefully, he pointed the revolver towards the note and fired, watching the round pierce through both the note and the desk itself. The world began to spin around as everything started to take on a blurry texture only for his vision to go black.

When it did finally return to him, he was still stuck in the classroom. The gun sat in the same position as before, with the note still taunting him. Heck, the only notable change to the layout was the inclusion of a chalkboard. For the moment, it hung empty in the taunting silence that seemed to love this place. He was fairly certain that something would eventually appear on it, but what exactly was the mystery at the moment.

"Wonderful." Consligmon whispered and got up from the desk, attempting to take his surroundings in. The room wasn't anything to really write home about, with it's hardwood floors and felted walls. Outside of the desk and the chalkboard, there was just a door to break up the walls. And even that didn't seem to do much in the way of livening up the room.

The spy turkey gave the doorknob a slight twist, finding it to actually work for once. On the other side, he found himself within a hallway. While decorated in a similar fashion to the previous room (minus the chalkboard), someone had taken the time to install some nice glass jars with cinnamon candles inside. Adding to the total disconnect between rooms were signs marking out of the various areas of this 'complex'. Currently, Consligmon was standing in front of the door marked as 'Classroom'. Further down the hall was a sign labeled 'Bedroom #1' followed by a wall painted to looked like a brick wall.

He casually made his way over to the door and attempted to pull his gun out, only to find the revolver from earlier in its place.

"Wonderful." Consligmon whispered and carefully opened the door. Inside, the flooring and wall covering had not been continued into here.

He was instead greeted with harvest gold walls and a cream-colored carpet. A bed and nightstand sat by the wall, with a sole lightbulb swinging about in some sort of nonexistent breeze.

"Oh right. This was the place where we got trapped in for a bit." Consligmon whispered and took a deep breath. He remembered the events just like yesterday, though that could be due to them being so recent in the road that was this adventure.

At the time, Alice and Elena were in some sort of 'coma' and him and the other digimon were guests. Things had went quite downhill, with it all culminating in a short stand-off with the original occupants. That was mostly Yokozamon using overkill to finish it in a single move. In retrospect, there were probably other options to solve this situation. But it wouldn't have really changed the outcome that much. After, their masters would probably wake up and they would head onwards.

His gaze focused on the nightstand, where an envelope awaited him. He carefully made his way over and opened it up, finding a second note.

Understand Me

"Understand me?" Consligmon thought and rolled his eyes. He set the note down and pulled the revolver out, pushing the barrel out. Compared to the last time he had checked, only five bullets resided there now. "It all leads back to you, doesn't it?"

The spy turkey exited the room and made his way down the hall, choosing to stop at the brick wall. Once he got there, he pulled the revolver out and took a deep breath, firing the gun off mere seconds later. The bullet ricocheted right off the wall and slammed into him, bringing a swift and unexpected end to him.

Consligmon opened his eyes.

He was back in the classroom, sitting in the sole desk. The note and revolver were gone, having been replaced with a pinkish purple purse. He then made a quick glance down at himself, finding the body of a human girl instead of that of a spy turkey. Said girl was dressed in a purple corset and long skirt combo, which had the addition of pink opera gloves and boots to complete the outfit.

"Wonderful." 'Consligmon' responded and turned his attention to the purse, dumping it onto the desk. He had expected to find a variety of documents and stuff related to the woman he was currently impostering.

Four revolver bullets and the 'Understand Me' note. That was all he managed to pull out of the bag.

"How disappointing. I should pro-" before he could complete that thought, he stopped himself. "I know what you're trying to do, aren't you? It takes more than that, place!"

If the compound could speak, it would've probably thrown a fit. But since it hadn't been upgraded with the ability to emote, it decided to ignore the pleas of the turkey.

Of course, Consligmon dashed out of the room and into the hallway. The 'brick' wall had been removed, revealing three more rooms. All of which labeled Bedroom #2, Bedroom #3 and Bedroom #4 respectively. At the end of that hall, was the void. Of course, some asshole had put a floating 'target' for one to hit for some reason.

After seeing that, Consligmon was tempted to flip off the sky. But he doubted that would do anything in this situation.

"It probably make the situation worse." he thought and took a deep breath. The spy turkey casually made his way towards the edge of the hall, digging a bullet out of the bag. Very carefully, he stared out towards the void, attempting to make out anything else within all the black.

"You hate me, don't you? I don't blame you for it. Especially since I'm in your shoes right now." he remarked and closed his eyes, only to have his head filled with mean thoughts related to himself. Though, that could be chalked to the actual hive queen unintentionally transmitting that message during a rehearsal.

With that out of the way, he flung the bullet at the target and watched it shatter.

Afterwards, the world began to spin all about and went black.

For the third time now, Consligmon awoke in the desk.

"Let's do this." he whispered and made a quick glance down, finding he was back in his own body. The revolver had returned, with a new note this time.

Free Us

He took a deep breath and slid the chamber out, finding three bullets. He gave the gun a slight flick, watching the gun return to normal. He focused on the chalkboard, which displayed a colored-in circle. Below, someone or perhaps something had labeled it as '100% complete?'.

The spy turkey charged out of the room, finding himself in the hallway once again. Unlike the previous visits, the faint sounds of music echoed throughout and the hole had been replaced with one final door. This one was labeled 'storage', though one could doubt that was what it was actually being 'used' for.

It didn't take him that long to reach the end of the hall. He gave the door a slight tap, mostly to make sure that the piece of wood was an actual door and not some sort of twisted illusion to make him fall to his death again.

"Here goes." he whispered and pushed the door open, only to slam it shut and take a deep breath. "Fuck."

Consligmon cracked the door open and held the revolver out in one hand.

"I'm sorry, guys."

 **Conslig Special!**

A grenade and bullet combo later, freedom was granted to those housed in this madhouse. Off course, it cost Consligmon his life as well.

Once more, he opened his eyes.

But this time, it was not the classroom that greeted him, but a light blue 'void' with a single eye.

"Hello Consligmon." a voice greeted as the spy turkey looked himself over. While the revolver was still in place of his usual gun, everything seemed to be normal.

"Uh… hi?" Consligmon greeted as he focused his gaze on the floating 'eye' thing. "I guess you're not happy with me?"

"Happy? Why of course I am!" the voice answered as the eye focused in on the turkey. "What would make you think that?"

Consligmon took a deep breath and cleared his throat.

"Because I and whoever else living here are stuck in a cycle of life and death."

The eye did it's own equivalent of a double-take, seeming to shake all about afterwards.

"No… that can't be true!" the voice shouted as the room began to shake about. "You are a liar! Liar Liar Liar Liar Liar!"

Consligmon rolled his eyes and fired off a single shot, managing to hit the eye. Afterwards, he pointed the revolver near his head and fired.

Yet, he still stood there, alive.

"I did it." he mumbled and turned around, finding a portal awaiting him. He ran on through as his usual gun appeared back on him…

* * *

Notes:

I actually like how this chapter turned out, mostly since it turned into an unintentional Halloween chapter. Oh well. Finally wrapped up Consligmon's story somewhat. Which is one less thing to worry about.

.

Next Time: We see the other side of the Papermoon...


	88. Papermoon: Alice's Side

I don't own digimon.

* * *

Session 88

Papermoon: Alice's Side

Alice Zwingli didn't know what to do at this moment.

Gone was Suiko Tanaka, taken away to parts unknown. Her partners were a similar story, having been blasted-off to different places. And while

Yet as she sat at this circular dinner table with her parents, there was a much bigger question lingering in her mind at the moment.

"If you're thinking about that girl, forget it honey." Verena Tanaka remarked in the sort of cheerful tone that made one want to punch the person's lights out. "Even if you did care for her, you were probably just using her as a tool. If you truly love her as much as you believe that you do, go steal yourself a ring and leave this place."

Alice didn't answer, choosing to push her plate away and got up from her chair.

"Sit down, young lady." her 'father', Gabe Tanaka snarled as Alice chose to look away. "You are nowhere near finished with your meal."

"I ate earlier." the gambler whispered and picked her plate up, flinging it towards Gabe's face. She had expected him to just dodge it, but instead watched him take today's dinner (spaghetti) to the face. "Are you happy now?"

"What do you think, 'Suiko'?" Gabe accused as he watched his 'daughter' walk out of the room. "Good riddance. I can't wait for the moment that bitch dies."

"Agreed." Verena added as the sound of footsteps suddenly stopped and their daughter now faced them. "Oh, were your feeling hurt, little baby? Grow the fuck up and then kill yourself for all we care."

Alice continued her vow of silence, choosing instead to turn around and walk down the hallway. Like the one walked by Chacha and Olrumon so long ago, it had the bright fluorescent white walls and floor with little to actually separate the two. But eventually, that gave way to an intersection, which was marked by a pair of gray fluorescent strips to mark out one's options.

"It'll be alright." she whispered and took a deep breath. "I can do this."

Yet, she felt hollow and empty within this place. Maybe it was the feeling of being on her own at the moment, away from everyone who legitimately seemed to care about her. Or it was just isolation, masked as 'bonding' with one's family.

After standing at this crossroad for a couple of minutes, the lucky gambler took a step forward and examined her options.

If her memory had served her correctly, the left hallway would take her back to the living quarters. There, she would probably sulk and debate things in her head, seemingly stuck in her head with no way of escaping this hellhole. The right hallway was an enigma to her, teasing her with the possibility of a different fate. But for all she knew, it could be some sort of elaborate trap set up by her parents to break her.

Yet, the lucky gambler chose the one less traveled as a slight weight seemed to dissipate from her body. But at the same time, a sense of unease swooped right in to take it's place. She took a deep breath and headed onwards, debating whether or not she should switch to her infusion form. While it probably would provide her with additional mobility just in case things go horribly wrong, card of fate could just as easily screw her over.

Alice probably would have pondered it more, if a paper airplane hadn't landed at her feet from an unknown destination. She picked the toy up and unfolded it, only for a smile to form on her face.

 _Deer Alice,_

 _Currently, I am stuck in a oversized bird cage with a yelow mouse creature dressed in some sort of pink outfit. I writie this letter in the hopes that it gets to u. How are u doing? Where are u? Is there somewhere that you want to meet once we get out of here?_

 _With lots of love and a kiss,_

 _-Elena_

Alice took a deep breath and opened up her bag, slipping the letter in. She then pulled some paper and a pencil out, quickly penning up a letter for her 'fiancee'.

 _Dear Miss Elena,_

 _I'm alright at the moment. While I currently don't know exactly where I am, Suiko and my digimon are currently missing and my parents having decided 'taunting' is the best way to have a chat. Though, there is one thing that I would like to ask you. If you somehow get out of that birdcage before me, make some sort of marking that I'll be able to recognize and wait there. No matter what happens, I'll come find you. But should I be the one who gets out before you, I'll make a mark and wait for you. That way, we'll be able to find each other no matter what the destination is._

 _Lots of love and a kiss back,_

 _-Alice_

The lucky gambler then folded the letter up into airplane, focusing in the place that the original paper airplane seemed to have come through. She gave it a slight toss and watched it slip through a crack in the wall. Alice then headed onward as the hallway curved, dropping her off into a large cylindrical room. Unlike the room she had just left,

"Why hello there, Miss Zwingli." a woman in a labcoat greeted as she stood before a door. "I am Verena Tanaka, head of this department. It is my recommendation that you just turn around and head to your room, maybe be the good girl for once."

Alice didn't answer and chose to make her way towards the woman, pulling her pistols out in the process.

"I'm sorry." she whispered and fired a shot off, watching the woman slump over as she holstered her guns. After, she focused her attention to the door."It'll be alright. It probably won't be that bad…"

The lucky gambler laughed to herself, feeling even more unease as she reached for the doorknob. Dread traveled through her body, yet she turned the knob to the left and pulled the pulled the door open. Inside, it looked a lot like a bigger version of the hallway she had just left, with the only difference being all the glass tubes containing young girls dressed in what appeared to be a copy of Suiko's school uniform. Heck, they were even made up to look like her 'other half'.

"No…" Alice whispered as she took a cautious step inside, propping the dead scientist in the doorframe. "This can't be true."

Yet, deep down inside of her, she knew it was the truth. For so long, she had attempted to break free from the shackles that her parents seeked to use upon her. But she was never in 'control' to begin with, for all paths would've eventually have led her and co. back to the tanaka's.

Reluctantly, she let out a sigh and pulled her

Alice made her way further in, examining the tubes. Each one was exactly the same, with only the destination and time till 'insertion' being the only thing used to really identify one 'Suiko' from another. Yet, that wasn't what the lucky gambler was focusing on at the moment. No, her focus was currently on the large console towards the back.

"Are you sure you want to mess with that?" a voice taunted and Alice turned around, finding Gabe Tanaka and his minigun standing at the entrance. "After all, you're parents worked so hard to get to this point."

Alice only rolled her eyes and fired both of her guns, watching both bullets pierce through the plastic skin of the device and render it unusable.

"Now what… Gabe?" Alice taunted as she made her way towards her 'father'.

"You are nothing, bitch." the minigun-wielding man screamed as Alice continued to walk forward, switching to her infusion form. "You are just a defective Suiko who thought that she could beat the system. Newsflash

"No," she remarked and took a deep breath, pulling her pistols back out in the process. Her mind wandered back to her arrival in the digital world and meeting Elena and the ensuing memories that followed. Some of these were good, like the meal that the gale corsair had brought her and their first kiss. Other were not so great, reminding her of the events that transpired in her visit to Despair High and of her time as a corrupted GamblerNekomon. Yet, she was fine with that. No matter what, Elena and their teammates would be there for her. "I am someone. Break me, beat me, hurt me, kill me. You will never be able to change that fact."

 **Card of Chance!**

Alice pulled a deck of cards off her thigh and flipped the top card up, revealing the jack of diamonds which proudly displayed dark blades in all her glory.

"You little…" Gabe screamed and could only watch as a copy of everyone's favorite gang of rogues appeared, only for Alice to jump over both parties. "My children, kill her!"

The tubes then opened up and the Suiko clones charged out, which was the signal for the dark blades copy to disappear. Yet, Alice chose to continue onward and took a deep breath. For the moment, she would just need to find a way out of here.

 **Card of Chance!**

The lucky gambler took a deep breath and pulled a card from the top of her deck, revealing the black joker. Yet unlike the other cards she had seen in the past, this one had a portal on the top with the word 'reshuffle'.

"Well, no going back." she whispered and watched a circular tear appear. She stepped through, finding herself within some sort of cityscape and in her human form. "Phew."

Of course, the sound of glass breaking seemed to leave little time for the silence to even get a chance to even get applied. Yet, Alice was fine with it and pulled out a ring box that she didn't remember having. Though, it could be result of the timeline changing while no one was looking.

"Uh… sure. Let's just go with that."

She took one more deep breath and looked down at the ring on her left hand, slipping it off with a sense of satisfaction and fitted it into the box. Afterwards, the lucky gambler made her way towards the sound of broken glass and found a familiar girl standing in front of the 'destruction'.

"There you are!" Alice shouted as she made her way over, dropping down one knee and holding out the now open ring box. "Elena Yuliana, will you marry me?"

The whole world seemed to slow down as the sun began to set, cascading twilight light upon the two. Yet, it seemed to bring a sense of sweetness that the two could savor for the moment.

"Yes, I'll be your wife." Elena finally responded and watched her 'wife' slip the ring onto her left hand, becoming Elena Zwingli in the process.

Right after, the bell rang seven times.

"Goddamit Devi!"

"Okay…" both girls remarked and embraced each other with a kiss…

* * *

Notes:

And with that, we have reached the half-way point of this arc. While not my original plan for this chapter, I really like how this turned out.

Next Time: Vague philosophical questions with a tea-loving angel.


End file.
